§ 485b-1. — Deferment of installments under repayment contracts; determination of undue burden; conditions; supplemental contract; report to Congress.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 43USC485b-1]
TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS
CHAPTER 12--RECLAMATION AND IRRIGATION OF LANDS BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
SUBCHAPTER X--PAYMENT OF CONSTRUCTION CHARGES
Sec. 485b-1. Deferment of installments under repayment
contracts; determination of undue burden; conditions;
supplemental contract; report to Congress
(a) The authority granted in section 485b of this title for
modification of existing repayment contracts or other forms of
obligations to pay construction charges shall continue through December
31, 1960.
(b) The Secretary is authorized, subject to the provisions of this
subsection to defer the time for the payment of such part of any
installments of construction charges under any repayment contract or
other form of obligation as he deems necessary to adjust such
installments to amounts within the probable ability of the water users
to pay. Any such deferment shall be effected only after findings by the
Secretary that the installments under consideration probably cannot be
paid on their due date without undue burden on the water users,
considering the various factors which in the Secretary's judgment bear
on the ability of the water users so to pay.
The Secretary may effect the deferments hereunder subject to such
conditions and provisions relating to the operation and maintenance of
the project involved as he deems to be in the interest of the United
States. If, however, any deferments would affect installments to accrue
more than twelve months after the action of deferment, they shall be
effected only by a formal supplemental contract. Such a contract shall
provide by its terms that, it being only an interim solution of the
repayment problems dealt with therein, its terms are not, in themselves,
to be construed as a criterion of the terms of any amendatory contract
that may be negotiated and that any such amendatory contract must be
approved by the Congress unless it does not lengthen the repayment
period for the project in question beyond that permitted by the laws
applicable to that project, involves no reduction in the total amount
payable by the water users, and is not in other respects less
advantageous to the Government than the existing contract arrangements.
The Secretary shall report to the Congress all deferments granted under
this subsection.
(Aug. 4, 1939, ch. 418, Sec. 17, 53 Stat. 1198; Apr. 24, 1945, ch. 94,
Sec. 3, 59 Stat. 76; Pub. L. 85-611, Sec. 3, Aug. 8, 1958, 72 Stat. 543;
Pub. L. 86-308, Sec. 1, Sept. 21, 1959, 73 Stat. 584.)
Amendments
1959--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 86-308 made permanent the Secretary's
authority to grant deferments in payment of installments of construction
charges under repayment contracts.
1958--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 85-611 substituted ``section 485b'' for
``sections 485b and 485c''.
1945--Subsec. (a). Act Apr. 24, 1945, extended authority for
modification of existing repayment contracts or other forms of
obligations to pay construction charges through Dec. 31, 1950, or Dec.
31 of the fifth full calendar year after the cessation of hostilities of
World War II, as determined by proclamation of the President or
concurrent resolution of Congress, whichever period was the longer.
Subsec. (b). Act Apr. 24, 1945, authorized Secretary, subject to
provisions of this subsection, to defer the time for the payment of such
part of any installments of construction charges under any repayment
contract or other form of obligation that are due and unpaid as of Apr.
24, 1945, or which would become due prior to the expiration of authority
under subsec. (a).
Applicability to Other Irrigation Projects
Section 3 of Pub. L. 86-308 provided that: ``The provisions of
section 17, subsection (b), of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939
[subsec. (b) of this section], as amended by section 1 of this Act,
shall apply to any project within the administrative jurisdiction of the
Bureau of Reclamation to which, if it had been constructed as a project
under the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 383)
and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto [see Short Title
note set out under section 371 of this title]), these provisions would
be applicable.''
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 422k-1 of this title.
