[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 435 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                 S. 435

 To provide for the elimination of the Department of Housing and Urban 
                  Development, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            February 16 (legislative day, January 30), 1995

 Mr. Faircloth introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the elimination of the Department of Housing and Urban 
                  Development, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Housing and Urban 
Development Elimination Act of 1995''.

  TITLE I--ELIMINATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

SEC. 101. ELIMINATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) Elimination.--The Department of Housing and Urban Development 
Act (42 U.S.C. 3531 et seq.) is hereby repealed.
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall take effect on January 1, 
1998.

SEC. 102. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, prior 
to January 1, 1998, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
(hereafter in this title referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall take 
such actions as may be necessary to--
            (1) consolidate the programs administered by the Department 
        of Housing and Urban Development into a block grant program;
            (2) convert all funding for public and assisted housing 
        under the United States Housing Act of 1937 to tenant-based 
        rental assistance;
            (3) convert the Federal Housing Administration into a 
        government-controlled corporation, which would provide mortgage 
        insurance only to low- and moderate-income persons under risk-
        sharing agreements with private mortgage insurers; and
            (4) otherwise provide for the complete elimination of the 
        Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to section 
        101.
    (b) Submissions to Congress.--
            (1) Strategic plan.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the 
        Congress a plan to carry out subsection (a), which shall 
        include any recommendations for--
                    (A) legislation necessary to carry out subsection 
                (a);
                    (B) transfers of functions and activities, 
                including all existing obligations to other existing or 
                successor Federal or State agencies.
            (2) Privatization of fha.--Not later than 180 days after 
        the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
        to the Congress a report which shall include--
                    (A) recommendations and a strategic plan for the 
                complete privatization of the Federal Housing 
                Administration; and
                    (B) a description of the projected cost savings to 
                the Federal Government that would be achieved through 
                the complete privatization of the Federal Housing 
                Administration.

SEC. 103. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE RECOMMENDATIONS.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Director of the Congressional Budget Office shall submit to the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a list 
of recommendations for minimizing the cost of Federal housing and 
community development programs through the elimination of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development.

SEC. 104. GAO REPORT.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report 
which shall include recommendations for the most efficient means of 
achieving--
            (1) the complete elimination of the Department of Housing 
        and Urban Development; and
            (2) the transfer of the functions of the Department of 
        Housing and Urban Development to other existing or successor 
        Federal or State agencies.

         TITLE II--TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS AND SAVINGS PROVISIONS

SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this title, unless otherwise provided or indicated 
by the context--
            (1) the term ``Federal agency'' has the meaning given to 
        the term ``agency'' by section 551(1) of title 5, United States 
        Code;
            (2) the term ``function'' means any duty, obligation, 
        power, authority, responsibility, right, privilege, activity, 
        or program; and
            (3) the term ``office'' includes any office, 
        administration, agency, institute, unit, organizational entity, 
        or component thereof.

SEC. 202. TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.

    There are transferred to the Department of Justice all functions 
which the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development exercised before 
the date of the enactment of this title (including all related 
functions of any officer or employee of the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development) relating to the Fair Housing Act or the rights 
granted under the Fair Housing Act.

SEC. 203. DETERMINATIONS OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS BY THE OFFICE OF 
              MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET.

    If necessary, the Office of Management and Budget shall make any 
determination of the functions that are transferred under section 202.

SEC. 204. PERSONNEL PROVISIONS.

    (a) Appointments.--The Attorney General may appoint and fix the 
compensation of such officers and employees, including investigators, 
attorneys, and administrative law judges, as may be necessary to carry 
out the respective functions transferred under this title. Except as 
otherwise provided by law, such officers and employees shall be 
appointed in accordance with the civil service laws and their 
compensation fixed in accordance with title 5, United States Code.
    (b) Experts and Consultants.--The Attorney General may obtain the 
services of experts and consultants in accordance with section 3109 of 
title 5, United States Code, and compensate such experts and 
consultants for each day (including travel time) at rates not in excess 
of the rate of pay for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 
5315 of such title. The Attorney General may pay experts and 
consultants who are serving away from their homes or regular place of 
business travel expenses and per diem in lieu of subsistence at rates 
authorized by sections 5702 and 5703 of such title for persons in 
Government service employed intermittently.

SEC. 205. DELEGATION AND ASSIGNMENT.

    Except where otherwise expressly prohibited by law or otherwise 
provided by this title, the Attorney General may delegate any of the 
functions transferred to the Attorney General by this title and any 
function transferred or granted to such Attorney General after the 
effective date of this title to such officers and employees of the 
Department of Justice as the Attorney General may designate, and may 
authorize successive redelegations of such functions as may be 
necessary or appropriate. No delegation of functions by the Attorney 
General under this section or under any other provision of this title 
shall relieve such Attorney General of responsibility for the 
administration of such functions.

SEC. 206. REORGANIZATION.

    The Attorney General is authorized to allocate or reallocate any 
function transferred under section 202 among the officers of the 
Department of Justice, and to establish, consolidate, alter, or 
discontinue such organizational entities in the Department of Justice 
as may be necessary or appropriate.

SEC. 207. RULES.

    The Attorney General is authorized to prescribe, in accordance with 
the provisions of chapters 5 and 6 of title 5, United States Code, such 
rules and regulations as the Attorney General determines necessary or 
appropriate to administer and manage the functions of Department of 
Justice.

SEC. 208. TRANSFER AND ALLOCATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS AND PERSONNEL.

    Except as otherwise provided in this title, the personnel employed 
in connection with, and the assets, liabilities, contracts, property, 
records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations, 
allocations, and other funds employed, used, held, arising from, 
available to, or to be made available in connection with the functions 
transferred by this title, subject to section 1531 of title 31, United 
States Code, shall be transferred to the Department of Justice. 
Unexpended funds transferred pursuant to this section shall be used 
only for the purposes for which the funds were originally authorized 
and appropriated.

SEC. 209. INCIDENTAL TRANSFERS.

    The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, at such time 
or times as the Director shall provide, is authorized to make such 
determinations as may be necessary with regard to the functions 
transferred by this title, and to make such additional incidental 
dispositions of personnel, assets, liabilities, grants, contracts, 
property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, 
authorizations, allocations, and other funds held, used, arising from, 
available to, or to be made available in connection with such 
functions, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this 
title. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
provide for the termination of the affairs of all entities terminated 
by this title and for such further measures and dispositions as may be 
necessary to effectuate the purposes of this title.

SEC. 210. EFFECT ON PERSONNEL.

    (a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided by this title, the 
transfer pursuant to this title of full-time personnel (except special 
Government employees) and part-time personnel holding permanent 
positions shall not cause any such employee to be separated or reduced 
in grade or compensation for one year after the date of transfer of 
such employee under this title.
    (b) Executive Schedule Positions.--Except as otherwise provided in 
this title, any person who, on the day preceding the effective date of 
this title, held a position compensated in accordance with the 
Executive Schedule prescribed in chapter 53 of title 5, United States 
Code, and who, without a break in service, is appointed in the 
Department of Justice to a position having duties comparable to the 
duties performed immediately preceding such appointment shall continue 
to be compensated in such new position at not less than the rate 
provided for such previous position, for the duration of the service of 
such person in such new position.
    (c) Termination of Certain Positions.--Positions whose incumbents 
are appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, the functions of which are transferred by this title, shall 
terminate on the effective date of this title.

SEC. 211. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.

    (a) Continuing Effect of Legal Documents.--All orders, 
determinations, rules, regulations, permits, agreements, grants, 
contracts, certificates, licenses, registrations, privileges, and other 
administrative actions--
            (1) which have been issued, made, granted, or allowed to 
        become effective by the President, any Federal agency or 
        official thereof, or by a court of competent jurisdiction, in 
        the performance of functions which are transferred under this 
        title, and
            (2) which are in effect at the time this title takes 
        effect, or were final before the effective date of this title 
        and are to become effective on or after the effective date of 
        this title,
shall continue in effect according to their terms until modified, 
terminated, superseded, set aside, or revoked in accordance with law by 
the President, the Attorney General or other authorized official, a 
court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.
    (b) Proceedings Not Affected.--The provisions of this title shall 
not affect any proceedings, including notices of proposed rulemaking, 
or any application for any license, permit, certificate, or financial 
assistance pending before the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development at the time this title takes effect, with respect to 
functions transferred by this title but such proceedings and 
applications shall be continued. Orders shall be issued in such 
proceedings, appeals shall be taken therefrom, and payments shall be 
made pursuant to such orders, as if this title had not been enacted, 
and orders issued in any such proceedings shall continue in effect 
until modified, terminated, superseded, or revoked by a duly authorized 
official, by a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law. 
Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to prohibit the 
discontinuance or modification of any such proceeding under the same 
terms and conditions and to the same extent that such proceeding could 
have been discontinued or modified if this title had not been enacted.
    (c) Suits Not Affected.--The provisions of this title shall not 
affect suits commenced before the effective date of this title, and in 
all such suits, proceedings shall be had, appeals taken, and judgments 
rendered in the same manner and with the same effect as if this title 
had not been enacted.
    (d) Nonabatement of Actions.--No suit, action, or other proceeding 
commenced by or against the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, or by or against any individual in the official capacity 
of such individual as an officer of the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, shall abate by reason of the enactment of this title.
    (e) Administrative Actions Relating to Promulgation of 
Regulations.--Any administrative action relating to the preparation or 
promulgation of a regulation by the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development relating to a function transferred under this title may be 
continued by the Department of Justice with the same effect as if this 
title had not been enacted.

SEC. 212. SEPARABILITY.

    If a provision of this title or its application to any person or 
circumstance is held invalid, neither the remainder of this title nor 
the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances 
shall be affected.

SEC. 213. TRANSITION.

    The Attorney General is authorized to utilize--
            (1) the services of such officers, employees, and other 
        personnel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
        with respect to functions transferred to the Department of 
        Justice by this title; and
            (2) funds appropriated to such functions for such period of 
        time as may reasonably be needed to facilitate the orderly 
        implementation of this title.

SEC. 214. REFERENCES.

    Reference in any other Federal law, Executive order, rule, 
regulation, or delegation of authority, or any document of or relating 
to--
            (1) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development with 
        regard to functions transferred under section 202, shall be 
        deemed to refer to the Attorney General; and
            (2) the Department of Housing and Urban Development with 
        regard to functions transferred under section 202, shall be 
        deemed to refer to the Department of Justice.

SEC. 215. ADDITIONAL CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Recommended Legislation.--After consultation with the 
appropriate committees of the Congress and the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget, the Attorney General shall prepare and submit 
to the Congress recommended legislation containing technical and 
conforming amendments to reflect the changes made by this title.
    (b) Submission to the Congress.--No later than 6 months after the 
effective date of this title, the Attorney General shall submit the 
recommended legislation referred to under subsection (a).

SEC. 216. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This title shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act.
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