§3731 Reimbursements

Summary

The Commission must repay the Department of Labor’s Employees’ Compensation Fund for benefits paid to its workers. It must also repay other government agencies for similar payments made on its behalf. The Department of Defense must reimburse the Commission for money the Commission spent to keep defense facilities ready for the Department. Money given to the Department of Defense or to other agencies the President names for any fiscal year starting after September 30, 1979, can be used to run the schools and health services (including kindergartens and the Canal Zone College) that the Canal Zone Government and the Panama Canal Company ran before October 1, 1979, and to serve the same groups of people who had those services then. Agencies that pay for those services for eligible people can be fully repaid, minus what those people must pay, unless the agency is already responsible for the cost. The Commission’s funds may be used to repay agencies for services for Commission employees and for others eligible under the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 and related agreements. For purposes of Panama reimbursing the United States under paragraph 8 of Article 10 of the 1977 Treaty for salaries and employment costs of Commission staff who help Panama run transferred activities, the Commission is treated as the United States. The President must operate the Canal Zone College, through the proper agency, until January 1, 2000, and the college should keep, as far as possible, the same level of services it had immediately before October 1, 1979. Unless this chapter says otherwise, Panama Canal Commission funds may not be given to other agencies (as “agency” is defined in 5 U.S.C. 551) or used for anything other than Panama Canal Commission activities.