Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 88 Part 1.djvu/526

 482 Personnel.

5 USC 5101, 5311.

Information, availability.

Contract authority.

Duties. D.C. Code 49402.

PUBLIC LAW 93-379-AUG. 21, 1974

[88 STAT.

(i) The Commission may appoint and fix the compensation of such personnel as it deems advisable. Such personnel shall be appointed subject to the provisions of title 5 of the United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, and shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter II of chapter 5o of such title relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates. Persons appointed to the staif of the Commission shall be so appointed solely on the basis of their ability to perform the duties of the (Commission without regard to political party affiliation. Employees of the Commission shall be regarded as employees of the District of Columbia government. (j) The Commission, acting through its Chairman, may request from any department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal and District governments, including independent agencies, any information for carrying out the purposes of this Act; and each department, agency, instrumentality, and independent agency is authorized and directed, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish to the Commission the requested information. (k) The Commission may enter into contracts with Federal or State agencies, private firms, institutions, and individuals for the conduct of research or surveys, the preparation of reports, and other activities necessary to the discharge of its duties. (I) The Commission may establish such advisory groups, committees, and subcommittees, consisting of members or nonmembers, as it deems necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act. SEC. 3. (a) I t shall be the duty of the Commission to— (1) examine the common law and statutes relating to the District of Columbia, the ordinances, regulations, resolutions, and acts of the District of Columbia Council, and all relevant judicial decisions for the purpose of discovering defects and anachronisms in the law relating to the District of Columbia and recommending needed reforms; (2) receive and consider proposed changes in the law recommended by the American Law Institute, the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, any bar association or other learned bodies; (3) receive and consider suggestions from judges, justices, public officials, lawyers, and the public generally as to defects and anachronisms in the law relating to the District of Columbia; and (4) recommend, from time to time, to the Congress, and where appropriate to the Commissioner of the District of Columbia and to the District of Columbia Council, such changes in the law relating to the District of Columbia as it deems necessary to modify or eliminate antiquated and inequitable rules of law, and to bring the law relating to the District of Columbia, both civil and criminal, into harmony with modern conditions. In carrying out its duties under this Act, the Commission shall give special consideration to the examination of the common law and statutes relating to the criminal law in the District of Columbia, and all

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