Volume 73 · 470
Public Law 86–233
To transfer from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Labor certain functions in respect of insurance benefits and disability payments to seamen for World War II service-connected injuries, death, or disability, and for other purposes.
Approved September 8, 1959
Statutory text
AN ACT
To transfer from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Labor certain functions in respect of insurance benefits and disability payments to seamen for World War II service-connected injuries, death, or disability, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Secretary
Former seamen, insurance and disability payments.
of Commerce shall certify to the Secretary of Labor amounts payable under crew life and injury and second seamen’s war risk insurance policies issued under authority of subtitle “Insurance” of title II of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended, extended, and supplemented (Act of June 29, 1940, section 222 ( 54 Stat. 689); Act of March 6, 1942 (56 Stat. 140); Act of April 11, 1942 (56 Stat. 214); Act of March 24, 1943, section 2 (57 Stat. 45); Act of September 30, 1944 (58 Stat. 758); Act of August 8, 1946 (60 Stat. 937)). Payments
of such amounts so certified shall be made by the Secretary of Labor from the Employees’ Compensation Fund established under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act of September 7, 1916, as amended (5 U.S.C. 751, 785).
39 Stat. 742, 749.
Sec. 2.
The powers, duties, and functions of the Secretary of Commerce in respect of permanent total or partial disability benefits (allowable upon exhaustion of insurance benefits referred to in section 1 hereof) under section 2(c) of the Act of March 24, 1943 (Public Law 17, Seventy-eighth Congress; 57 Stat. 45), as amended by the Act of September 30, 1944 (Public Law 449, Seventy-eighth Congress; 58 Stat. 758), are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Labor. Payments
of such benefits, including costs and payments on account of medical care authorized by the Secretary of Labor, shall be made by him from the Employees’ Compensation Fund as established under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act of September 7, 1916, as amended (5 U.S.C. 751, 785). The Secretary of Commerce shall
39 Stat. 742, 749.
furnish to the Secretary of Labor such information, data, and reports and certifications in respect of cases within the purview of this section as the Secretary of Labor may request. Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize any appeal to, or review or redetermination by, the Secretary of Labor from any order, finding, determination, or adjudication in respect of eligibility for benefits made by the Secretary of Commerce in force on the effective date of this Act, except upon a showing to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor of a change in the nature and extent of the disability for which benefits were approved for payment in accordance with the provisions of such Acts.
Sec. 3.
The Secretary of Labor is authorized to make such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act and the functions vested in him by this
Sec. 4.
This Act shall become effective as of July 1, 1959.
Approved September 8, 1959.