53STAT.]
76TH CONG., 1 ST SESS.-CH. 155 -MAY 31, 1939
791
or quality of the water of the Rio Grande are composed and settled;
however, nothing herein shall be interpreted to prevent recourse by a
signatory state to the Supreme Court of the United States for redress
should the character or quality of the water, at the point of delivery,
be changed hereafter by one signatory state to the injury of another.
Nothing herein shall be construed as an admission by any signatory
state that the use of water for irrigation causes increase of salinity for
which the user is responsible in law.
ARTICLE XII.
To administer the provisions of this Compact there shall be con-
stituted a Commission composed of one representative from each state,
to be known as the Rio Grande Compact Commission. The State
Engineer of Colorado shall be ex-officio the Rio Grande Compact
Commissioner for Colorado. The State Engineer of New Mexico
shall be ex officio the Rio Grande Compact Commissioner for New
Mexico. The Rio Grande Compact Commissioner for Texas shall be
appointed by the Governor of Texas. The President of the United
States shall be requested to designate a representative of United States
to sit with such Commission, and such representative of the United
States, if so designated by the President, shall act as Chairman of the
Commission without vote.
The salaries and personal expenses of the Rio Grande Compact
Commissioners for the three States shall be paid by their respective
States, and all other expenses incident to the administration of this
Compact, not borne by the United States, shall be borne equally by the
three States.
In addition to the powers and duties hereinbefore specifically con-
ferred upon such Commission, and the members thereof, the jurisdic-
tion of such Commission shall extend only to the collection, correlation,
and presentation of factual data and the maintenance of records having
a bearing upon the administration of this Compact, and, by unanimous
action, to the making of recommendations to the respective States
upon matters connected with the administration of this Compact. In
connection therewith, the Commission may employ such engineering
and clerical aid as may be reasonably necessary within the limit of
funds provided for that purpose by the respective States. Annual
reports compiled for each calendar year shall be made by the Com-
mission and transmitted to the Governors of the signatory States on
or before March first following the year covered by the report. The
Commission may, by unanimous action, adopt rules and regulations
consistent with the provisions of this Compact to govern their
proceedings.
The findings of the Commission shall not be conclusive in any court
or tribunal which may be called upon to interpret or enforce this
Compact.
ARTICLE XIII.
At the expiration of every five-year period after the effective date
of this Compact, the Commission may, by unanimous consent, review
any provisions hereof which are not substantive in character and
which do not affect the basic principles upon which the Compact is
founded, and shall meet for the consideration of such questions on the
request of any member of the Commission; provided, however, that
the provisions hereof shall remain in full force and effect until
changed and amended within the intent of the Compact by unanimous
action of the Commissioners and until any changes in this Compact
are ratified by the legislatures of the respective states and consented to
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