drafting, and similar purposes. Already, copies of the tapes covering the first four volumes of the new edition have been made available to the House Information Systems, which is developing a program for use by this Office as well as the House itself. With respect to the preparation of bills to revise, codify, and enact titles of the U.S. Code, we have prepared and submitted to the Committee on the Judiciary a bill to revise, codify, and enact without substantive change the Interstate Commerce Act and related laws as subtitle IV of Title 49, "Transportation". This bill was introduced October 27, 1977, as H.R. 9777, and has been circulated widely for comment. We have completed review of the comments received, and a corrected bill is now ready for consideration by the Judiciary Committee. In addition, we are now preparing a companion bill to enact the remaining transportation laws as subtitles I to III and V of Title 49. It is anticipated that it will be ready for introduction at the beginning of the 96th Congress. This completes my prepared statement. I will be happy to answer any question you may have. OFFICE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL Mr. HENSHAW. For salaries and expenses of the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the House, $1,879,000, compared with $1,682,000 appropriated for 1978, or an increase of $197,000. Mr. Ward M. Hussey, the Legislative Counsel of the House, is here today to discuss his office with the subcommittee. Mr. Hussey's salary is established by Title 2, section 282(b). [Executive Level III of the Executive Schedule of Section 5314 of Title 5]. All other positions and rates of salaries are established by him with the approval of the Speaker. Mr. HENSHAW. Mr. Hussey is here, Mr. Chairman. Mr. SHIPLEY. We are always glad to welcome you, Mr. Hussey. You do one fine job down there with the burdens Congress puts on you from time to time. You went into your computer operation well enough this morning. I have no questions as to your operation. Everybody is happy with you. Adam. Mr. BENJAMIN. The positions in the fiscal 1978 budget include the positions not filled, as follows: Four attorney positions; one position for Ramseyer specialist; and three positions for legal secretaries. Mr. HUSSEY. Yes. Mr. BENJAMIN. What happened? Are they people so skilled we can't find them in the market place? Mr. HUSSEY. Actually, in my requests to your committee I try to follow the letter and spirit of the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. 665) That is, if I request funding for a new position, I ask for the full-year amount that position will cost even though the position will not be filled on the first day of the fiscal year. The four legal positions you cite were intended to be filled with young lawyers graduating from law school this spring. So the positions will not be filled until toward the end of fiscal 1978. But I always ask for full year funding. Mr. BENJAMIN. Did you require they have their bar exams? Mr. HUSSEY. No; they have to pass some State bar before they get promoted to assistant counsel. In the past, each attorney has been a member of the bar of a State or the District of Columbia within 1 year after he starts work for us. Mr. BENJAMIN. How do you advertise for these positions? Mr. HUSSEY. We don't advertise, Mr. Benjamin, although I am afraid than even so word is getting around too much. We are swamped with applications. Our practice for the last 7 years has been to send one or two of our lawyers to approximately four schools each year. Over the years we have attempted to include law schools in different parts of the country. At these schools our attorneys try to pick out people in the top one-fourth or one-third of their class who have the legal ability, the attributes of character, the writing skills, and the willingness to make a career of public service which are necessary to our work. Mr. SHIPLEY. He is very selective, too, I sent a referral down there and he did not hire him. Mr. BENJAMIN. Do they have to be just recent law school graduates. Mr. HUSSEY. I have been in the Office 31 years. During that period we have hired a number of people who were not recent law school graduates and most of them did not work out. Usually they have a legal specialty and do not have expertise in drafting. Because of the relatively small size of our staff and the broad scope of Federal legislation, we need drafting generalists rather than specialists. Our people must be so trained that they can be assigned to any area, can analyze the problems, and can come up with a statute. We had one older attorney come in from an agency with which he had years of experience. Shortly after he joined us, the law was changed, his old agency was abolished, and he never had a chance to put his legal specialty to use in drafting. Mr. BENJAMIN. What about a lawyer who graduated about two years ago and is working with a legislative counsel with a myriad of duties; I assume you wouldn't even look at him. Mr. HUSSEY. That is not true, we would look at him very closely. One of our attorneys, Roger Young, came to us from a position as Deputy Legislative Counsel for the State of Alaska. We are favorably inclined toward people with a record of accomplishment in drafting, but people having these skills generally ask for more money than we can pay them. A person who has been out in private practice and has been successful for two or more years in Washington or New York probably would not settle for our starting salary. You see, such an attorney would have to learn to draft the way we draft. We could not start an older attorney at a salary considerably above the salary of a younger attorney who is also in training. So, for these reasons, we have had better success with those fresh out of law school. Mr. BENJAMIN. Of course, you would be favorable to candidates sent to the office by members. Mr. HUSSEY. The law is explicit. From the time the Office was created in 1918 the law has provided that appointments to all positions in the Office are to be made without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of fitness to do the work. Applicants do much better if they just come to the door and don't let on some Member is behind them. Mr. BENJAMIN. I am not sure of your interpretation of the statute but I appreciate what you are saying. Thank you, Mr. Hussey. Mr. SHIPLEY. Mr. Hussey, we will incorporate your statement in the record. I think you have done a good job, as usual, in justifying your existence and we are proud of the work you do. [The statement referred to follows:] February 14,1978. OFFICE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Statement of Ward M. Hussey, Legislative Counsel Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, it is a pleasure to appear before you again. I am requesting $1,879,000 for the fiscal year 1979, an increase of $197,000 over the amount appropriated to date for fiscal 1978 ($1,682,000). The increase is attributable to the October 1, 1977, pay comparability increase ($68,589) and to the reserve for meritorious promotions and contingencies for fiscal 1979 ($128,411). This amount is based on the same number of employees (54) as was provided for by the 1978 appropriation. This figure includes 36 positions for attorneys and 18 administrative, technical, and clerical positions. As of February 1978 we have 8 vacancies distributed as follows: 4 attorney positions, for which the recruitment process is well along. 1 position for a Ramseyer specialist (that is, a person who can prepare copy showing the changes in existing law which will be made by 3 positions for legal secretaries. In deciding not to ask for new legal positions for fiscal 1979, I was motivated primarily by a desire to see to what extent the increasing demands on our Office for bill drafting services could be met by the increasing efficiency of the young attorneys we have added in the past 7 years. Bill drafting is a skill which takes years to develop. But in a person who is suited to the profession, each added year of experience adds measurable skills in analyzing legal problems and in finding statutory solutions for these problems. The 25 attorneys on the staff who have joined us during the past 7 years now have drafting experience which aggregates over 65 years, and this experience is of great help in offering better service to the committees and in cutting down the time which it takes to comply with requests for bills from individual Members. I mentioned the increasing demands on our Office. Both the work for committees and the work for individual Members for the first session of the 95th Congress were at a level considerably above the level experienced for the first session of the 94th Congress: |