PUBLIC LAWS-CHS. 632 , 633-DEC. 21 , 1944 Order of payment. Transfers to posi- tions under different leave systems. expiration of the period of such annual or vacation leave shall be paid, upon the establishment of a valid claim therefor, in the following order of precedence: First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries, if any, lawfully designated by the employee under the retirement Act applicable to his service; Second, if there be no such designated beneficiary, to the estate of such deceased employee. SEc. 3. That all accumulated and current accrued leave be liquidated by a lump-sum payment to any civilian officer or employee of the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia in cases involving transfer to agencies under different leave systems. Such lump-sum payment shall equal the compensation that such employee would have received had he not been transferred until the expiration of the period of such leave: Provided,That the lump-sum payment herein authorized shall not be regarded, except for purposes of taxation, as salary or compensation and shall not be subject to retirement deductions. SEc. 4 . The provisions of sections 1 and 2 of this Act shall not apply to officers and employees of the Panama Canal and Panama Railroad on the Isthmus of Panama. Approved December 21, 1944. [CHAPTER 633] December 21,1944 [S. 1191 [Public Law 626] Mississippi River. Bridge at Clinton, Iowa, and Fulton, Ill. Acquisition or con- trol ofexisting bridges, at Clinton, Iowa. Condition. Jurisdiction of con- demnation proceed- ings. AN ACT Creating the City of Clinton Bridge Commission and authorizing said commis- sion and its successors to acquire by purchase or condemnation and to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge or bridges across the Mississippi River at or near Clinton, Iowa, and at or near Fulton, Illinois. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to facilitate interstate commerce, improve the postal service, and provide for military and other purposes the City of Clinton Bridge Commis- sion (hereinafter created, and hereinafter referred to as the "com- mission"), and its successors and assigns be, and are hereby author- ized to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge or bridges and approaches thereto, across the Mississippi River at or near the cities of Clinton, Iowa, and Fulton, Illinois, at a point or points suitable to the interest of navigation, subject to the conditions and limitations contained in this Act. For like purposes said commission, or its suc- cessors and assigns, are hereby authorized to acquire by purchase or condemnation, and to reconstruct, maintain, and operate all or any existing bridges for vehicular traffic crossing the Mississippi River at or near the city of Clinton, Iowa, and may acquire control of any or all such existing bridges by purchase of stock in any corporation owning any such bridges, or by a conveyance from such corporation and in any case the existing right or rights of the city of Clinton to acquire any such bridge or bridges shall be merged into and repre- sented by acquisition thereof by the commisscommission, and said commission shall be authorized to maintain and operate said bridge or bridges subject to the conditions and limitations contained in this Act: Pro- vided, That the power granted in this Act with respect to the acquisi- tion and purchase of any bridge shall not be exercised by said commis- sion until all terms of the proposed acquisition and purchase of any such bridge shall have been approved by the Highway Departments of the States of Iowa and Illinois. SEC. 2. Jurisdiction of all condemnation proceedings under this Act for the acquisition of any existing bridge or bridges is hereby conferred upon the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, and for such purpose the process of such court may 846 [58 STAT.
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