[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2187 Introduced in Senate (IS)]






104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2187

 To reauthorize appropriations for the Civil Rights Commission Act of 
                     1983, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 2, 1996

   Mr. Brown introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reauthorize appropriations for the Civil Rights Commission Act of 
                     1983, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Civil Rights Commission 
Reauthorization Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF SUBMISSION OF REPORTS.

    Section 3(c) of the Civil Rights Commission Act of 1983 (42 U.S.C. 
1975a(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Approval.--The Commission may submit a report under 
        this subsection only with the approval of a majority of the 
        members of the Commission that are present at a meeting when a 
        quorum is present.''.

SEC. 3. APPROVAL OF ISSUANCE OF SUBPOENAS.

    Section 3(e)(2) of the Civil Rights Commission Act of 1983 (42 
U.S.C. 1975a(e)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Commission'' and inserting:
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commission''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Procedure for withholding issuance.--
                            ``(i) List of witnesses.--Prior to the 
                        issuance of a subpoena described in 
                        subparagraph (A) for any witness called to 
                        testify or produce written or other matter for 
                        a Commission hearing scheduled pursuant to 
                        paragraph (1), the Chairperson shall issue a 
                        complete list of all witnesses for the hearing, 
                        including information identifying the witnesses 
                        and the nature of any written or other matter 
                        to be produced, to each member of the 
                        Commission for review. The Chairperson shall 
                        issue the list a reasonable period of time 
                        prior to the issuance of the subpoena.
                            ``(ii) Objection.--Any member of the 
                        Commission objecting to the issuance of a 
                        subpoena for any witness on the list shall 
                        notify the Chairperson of the objection.
                            ``(iii) Meeting.--On receiving such an 
                        objection, the Chairperson shall schedule a 
                        meeting of the Commission to consider the 
                        objection. At the meeting, on the motion of any 
                        member of the Commission, the Commission shall 
                        vote on whether to issue the subpoena. The 
                        Commission may issue a subpoena only with the 
                        approval of a majority of the members of the 
                        Commission that are present at a meeting when a 
                        quorum is present.''.

SEC. 4. REVIEW OF STAFF DIRECTOR.

    Section 4(a)(1) of the Civil Rights Commission Act of 1983 (42 
U.S.C. 1975b(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(A)'' and inserting the following:
                            ``(i)'';
            (2) by striking ``(B)'' and inserting the following:
                            ``(ii)'';
            (3) by striking ``There shall'' and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(A) In general.--There shall''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Removal.--The Commission may, by majority 
                vote of the Commission, remove the staff director from 
                office.''.

SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, PRIVACY ACT OF 1974, 
              AND GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE ACT.

    Section 4 of the Civil Rights Commission Act of 1983 (42 U.S.C. 
1975b) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Application of Certain Provisions of Law.--The Commission 
shall be included in the term `agency', as such term is defined for 
purposes of sections 552, 552a, and 552b of title 5, United States 
Code.''.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 5 of the Civil Rights Commission Act of 1983 (42 U.S.C. 
1975c) is amended by striking ``fiscal year 1995'' each place it 
appears and inserting ``for fiscal year 1997''.

SEC. 7. TERMINATION.

    Section 6 of the Civil Rights Commission Act of 1983 (42 U.S.C. 
1975d) is amended by striking ``1996'' and inserting ``1997''.
                                 <all>