25 court unless such objection has been urged before the Secre 2 tary. 3 (3) The court shall have jurisdiction to affirm or modify 4 the action of the Secretary or to set it aside in whole or in 5 part. The findings of fact by the Secretary, if supported by 6 substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, 7 shall be conclusive. The court may order additional evidence 8 to be taken by the Secretary, and to be made part of the 9 record. The Secretary may modify his findings of fact, or 10 make new findings, by reason of the new evidence so taken 11 and filed with the court, and he shall also file such modified 12 or new findings, which findings with respect to questions of 13 fact shall be conclusive if supported by substantial evidence 14 on the record considered as a whole, and shall also file his 15 recommendations, if any, for the modification or setting aside 16 of his original action. 17 (4) Upon the filing of the record with the court, the 18 jurisdiction of the court shall be exclusive and its judgment 19 shall be final, except that such judgment shall be subject to 20 review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon writ 21 of certiorari or certification as provided in section 1254 of 22 title 28, United States Code. GENERAL PROVISIONS 23 24 SEC. 16. (a) The Secretary shall prescribe such rules, 26 1 regulations, and standards as may be necessary to carry out 2 the purposes and conditions of this Act. 3 (b) The Secretary shall include an evaluation of the 4 effectiveness of this Act in his annual report to the President 5 on departmental activities required by section 8 of the De6 partment of Housing and Urban Development Act. 7 (c) Each recipient shall provide for the expenditure of 8 amounts received under this Act only in accordance with the 9 laws and procedures applicable to the expenditures of its 10 11 12 own revenues. CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMENDMMENTS SEC. 17. (a) This Act shall be effective upon enact13 ment but no funds shall be allocated under section 7 for any year prior to fiscal year 1975. 14 15 17 (b) Except with respect to projects and programs for 16 which funds have been previously committed, no new grants or loans shall be made under (1) section 312 of the Housing 18 Act of 1964, (2) section 702 or section 703 of the Housing 19 and Urban Development Act of 1965, (3) loans pursuant 20 to title II of the Housing Amendments of 1955, (4) title VII 21 of the Housing Act of 1961, or (5) title I of the Demonstra22 tion Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966. After 23 June 30, 1974, no new grants or loans shall be made under 24 title I of the Housing Act of 1949 except with respect to 27 1 projects or programs for which funds have been committed 3 4 5 6 (c) Section 3689 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (31 U.S.C. 711), is amended by adding at the end thercof a new paragraph as follows: "(22) For payments required from time to time under 7 contracts entered into pursuant to section 103 (b) of the 8 Housing Act of 1949, as amended, with respect to projects 9 or programs for which funds have been committed on or 10 before June 30, 1974, and for which funds have not previous11 ly been appropriated." 12 (d) The Secretary is authorized to transfer the assets 13 and liabilities of any superseded or nonactive program of 14 housing or urban development to the revolving fund for 15 liquidating programs established pursuant to title II of the 16 Independent Offices Appropriation Act of 1955 (Public Law 17 81-428; 68 Stat. 272, 295). 27-051 743 SECTION-BY-SECTION SUMMARY BETTER COMMUNITIES ACT To provide Federal revenues to State and local governments and afford them broad discretion in carrying out community development activities. Section 1. Short title This section would provide that this Act may be cited as the "Better Communities Act." Section 2. Statement of findings and purpose This section would set forth Congressional findings and declarations that: (1) States and units of general local government are the most appropriate levels of government to develop and carry out community development programs and activities. (2) The current method of distributing Federal assistance for community development is seriously deficient because it is so excessively fragmented and controlled at the Federal level, and channeled through so many separate, overlapping and independent grant programs, to so many different special purpose bodies and agencies, that it has become an ineffective use of the Federal funds involved. (3) The effectiveness of community development would be improved by making Federal resources for such purposes available to States and units of general local government to use with broad discretion in evaluating their community development needs and allocating resources to meet those needs. Section (b) would declare, therefore, that it is the purpose of the Act to help States and units of general local government to deal more effectively with the broad range of community development concerns by replacing inflexible and fragmented categorical programs of Federal assistance with a more efficient system of Federal revenue sharing assistance which will encourage the exercise of State and local responsibility. Section 3. Definitions Subsection (a) would define certain terms as follows: (1) "Secretary" would mean the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; (2) Unit of general local government" would mean any city, municipality, county, town, township, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State; a combination of such political subdivisions recognized by the Secretary; the District of Columbia; and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; (3) "State" would mean any State of the United States; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Guam; Samoa; and the Virgin Islands. |