WHAT THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL WOULD DO

DOES anyone really know what the civil rights bill now proposes? It has been kicked around for an awfully long while. First sent to the Congress by President Kennedy last June, it was partly changed by the House of Representatives and sent on to the Senate in February. It has languished in the chamber of winds during the longest filibuster in history, still faces substantive amendment under a bipartisan agreement achieved by Republican Everett Dirksen. Civil rights groups, without being specific, claim that it is too weak. The bill's opponents, without being specific, insist that it is so strong as to ruin the framework of the Republic. Herewith, what the civil rights bill, including the Dirksen amendments, would do:

VOTING RIGHTS

The House-passed measure requires that within a given county the procedure under which residents seek the right to vote in a federal election must be uniform for all persons. No one could be disqualified for some irrelevant error or omission in his application papers. Any person who has completed six grades in an accredited school could be presumed literate. Where a literacy test is required, the applicant could demand a certified copy of the test and of the answers he gave. The bill would cover any election "held solely or in part" to elect or nominate a candidate for federal office.

PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS

The House bill bans discrimination in hotels, motels, inns, restaurants, cafeterias, lunch counters, soda fountains, theaters, concert halls, sports arenas and gas stations. It exempts private clubs and rooming houses with fewer than five rentable rooms in buildings occupied by the owner.

If a person were denied access to such a public place, his remedy would be to file a civil suit asking a federal court to order the proprietors to cease such discrimination. Also the Attorney General could file such a suit on behalf of the U.S. Where state or local laws ban such discrimination, the Attorney General would have to give state or local officials "reasonable time" to act before filing suit. The Attorney General could, if he wished, use the services of local agencies to seek a voluntary solution. But if he decided that any delay would "adversely affect the interests of the U.S." or that referral to state officials would "prove ineffective," he could so notify the court and proceed with the suit.

Dirksen would alter this procedure sharply. If there were a local public-accommodations law, an individual could not file a federal suit until 30 days after he had notified local officials of his complaint. The federal court could delay the suit until local officials completed their action. If there were no local law, he could file federal suit immediately. The court then would have the power to ask a newly created Community Relations Service to investigate and to seek voluntary compliance with the law for up to 180 days. These negotiations would be secret. If they failed, the suit would proceed.

Under the Dirksen amendments, the Attorney General could not institute such suits for individuals. He could ask the court, however, to permit him to "intervene" in such cases. If granted, that would mean that federal attorneys would help to argue the case. But if the Attorney General could demonstrate a community pattern of denying free access to public accommodations, he could file a federal suit, set forth his facts, seek a court order against specific proprietors whom he considered part of the pattern.

PUBLICLY OWNED

Any individual denied equal access to a publicly owned facility, such as a park, swimming pool, hospital or library--but not a school--could file a complaint with the Attorney General. If the Attorney General decreed the individual unable to afford his own suit or in fear of physical or economic harm, the Attorney General could institute a civil suit to force state or local officials to desegregate such a facility.

PUBLIC EDUCATION

The House bill would allow the U.S. Commissioner of Education to help local public school officials draw up plans for desegregation, finance and plan training courses in colleges to instruct school officials and teachers in how to deal with desegregation problems. The commission could supply federal grants to school boards to train teachers and hire consultants on such problems. The Attorney General could institute a suit when tax-supported college students or parents of schoolchildren filed a complaint that they were being denied admission to a school or college because of race, religion or national origin.

Dirksen would amend this section so that it would not empower federal courts to order the transportation of pupils to correct a racial imbalance--as in "bussing."

CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION

The bill would extend the life of the Civil Rights Commission until February 1968. Both the House bill and Dirksen amendments would provide new protection for persons appearing before the commission, and would require that commission proceedings in executive session could be made public only by vote of the commission.

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

Each federal department or agency that provides financial assistance "to any program or activity" would be required to make rules, subject to presidential approval, banning discrimination in such programs. They would cut off such assistance if discrimination persisted. Before such action, however, voluntary compliance with the rules would have to be sought and the contemplated action reported to an appropriate committee of the House and Senate. A decision to curtail funds could be appealed in the courts.

A Dirksen amendment would specifically limit the curtailment of funds to those recipients of assistance actually found to be discriminating. For example, an entire state could not be shut out of all federal programs if only a particular city discriminated in a federal housing project.

EMPLOYMENT

The bill would make it illegal for any employer with more than 100 employees to discharge or refuse to hire any person because of race, religion, sex or national origin. Labor unions could not deny membership or apprentice training on such grounds. Neither could employment agencies refuse to refer applicants. Colleges run by religious organizations in which religion might be a valid employment requirement would be exempt.

The bill would create an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could assist local groups in eliminating job discrimination, make technical studies on the subject, offer conciliation service when requested by employers. Either an individual or a member of the commission could file a complaint of job discrimination, and the commission would investigate the charge and notify the persons or organizations against whom the charge was brought. If two of the five commissioners found that the charge was valid, and the efforts at getting voluntary compliance failed, the commission could file a federal civil suit. If the court found that an unlawful practice was committed, it could take whatever action it deemed appropriate, including requiring an employer to hire specific persons with back pay for the period in which the employment was denied.

Many of Dirksen's amendments apply to this section. He would extend coverage to federal employment and union hiring halls and exempt Indian reservations and cases involving national security. He would eliminate the commission's right to file suits. Instead, it would investigate and could recommend that the Attorney General intervene in suits.

Under the Dirksen procedure, the commission would investigate a complaint in secret and, in those states or cities that have a Fair Employment Practices law, notify the local authorities, who would have 90 days to remedy the practice. If they failed, the commission would have 90 days to seek voluntary compliance. If that too failed--or there was no local law--it would notify the person who filed the claim, and that person could then file a federal civil suit. The court could, if it wished, delay the suit for another 90 days to let local officials or the federal commission try again to resolve the matter. The court could also authorize the Attorney General to intervene in the suit. But the Attorney General could not initiate a suit himself unless he could show that a pattern of job discrimination existed in the community. Dirksen would require the plaintiff to prove that the violation had been "intentional."

COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE

The bill would create a Community Relations Service in the Commerce Department to assist communities and individuals in resolving problems of discrimination. The Service could offer its assistance whenever "peaceful relations among the citizens of the community involved are threatened." It would be required to seek the cooperation of local authorities and to keep its activities confidential.

ENFORCEMENT

The purpose of the bill is to provide citizens with a practical means of exercising their constitutional rights, and it would be enforceable only through civil suits in federal courts. The complainant would state his grievance and ask the court to issue an injunction, restraining or other order against those persons he contended were denying him his rights. In many cases, the court could assume the complainant's legal costs. No one could be jailed or fined under the act unless he violated such an order of a court. To expedite the suits, the bill would permit the Attorney General (and in some cases defendants) to request a three-judge panel to hear the arguments. Their decision then could be appealed by either side directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The House-passed bill retains the 1957 Civil Rights Act procedure, under which the judge determines whether the accused shall have a jury trial. If a jury trial were granted, a guilty verdict could result in a maximum jail term of six months and a $1,000 fine. If the case were decided by a judge, without a jury, the maximum sentence would be 45 days and $300. Under a Dirksen-Mansfield amendment, this jail term would be reduced to 30 days. Any contempt conviction could be appealed.

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