PUBLIC LAWS-CHS. 514, 515-DEC. 3, 1945 [CHAPTER 514] AN ACT December 3, 1945 [H. R . 39791 To extend for the period of one year the provisions of the District of Columbia [Public Law 242] Emergency Rent Act, approved December 2, 1941, as amended. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the D. c . Emergency United States of America in Congress assembled,That the Act entitled ent Act, etension "An Act to regulate rents in the District of Columbia, and for other D.Ct8. de Supp. purposes, approved December 2,1941, as amended, is further amended IV, §45-1601 (b). by striking in section 1 (b) thereof the figure "1945" and inserting in lieu thereof "1946". Approved December 3, 1945. [CHAPTER 515] AN ACT December 3, 1945 [H. R. 4350] To amend section 3646 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, relating to the [Public Law 243] issuance of checks in replacement of lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated, or defaced checks of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 3646 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (U. S. C., title 31, sec. 528), is further amended to read as follows: Lost, etc., U. 8 . "(a) Except as hereinafter provided, whenever it is clearly proved cissuane of sbsti- to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that any original tute checks. check of the United States is lost, stolen, or wholly or partly destroyed, or is so mutilated or defaced as to impair its value to its owner or holder, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized, before the close of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the original check was issued to transfer the amount of the original check from the account of the drawer to a special deposit account carried in the name of the Secretary of the Treasury on the books of the. Treasurer of the United States, and to issue against such special deposit account to the owner or holder thereof a substitute under current date showing such information as may be necessary to iden- tify the original check, upon the receipt and approval by the Secre- tary of the Treasury of an undertaking to indemnify the United States, in such form and amount and with such surety, sureties, or Restriction. security, if any, as the Secretary of the Treasury may require; but no such substitute shall be payable if the original check shall first Liability of certify- have been paid: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be ingor disbursingoffcer. deemed to relieve any certifying officer or his sureties or any dis- bursing officer or his sureties of any liability to the United States on account of any payment resulting from the erroneous issuance of the Public-debt obliga- original check: And provided further, That the authority herein con- tions, etc. ferred to issue substitute checks may, in the case of checks issued on account of public-debt obligations and transactions regarding the administration of banking and currency laws, be exercised without limitation of time. Undertakings of in- "(b) An undertaking of indemnity shall not be required under demnit; subsection (a) of this section in any of the following classes of cases except as provided in this subsection: (1) If the Secretary of the Treasury is satisfied that the loss, theft, destruction, mutilation, or defacement, as the case may be, occurred without fault of the owner or holder and while the check was in the custody or control Postal service of the United States (including the postal service when carrying mail for any officer, employee, agent, or agency of the United States when performing services in connection with an official function of the United States, but not including the postal service when otherwise acting solely in its capacity as a public carrier of the mail), or of a 592 [59 STAT.
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