[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2977 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  1st Session

                               H. R. 2977

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

     To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to clarify public 
disclosure requirements that are applicable to the National Academy of 
      Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2977

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
     To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to clarify public 
disclosure requirements that are applicable to the National Academy of 
      Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration.

    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 ``Federal Advisory Committee Act 
Amendments of 1997''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.

    (a) Exclusions From Definition.--Section 3(2) of the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended in the matter 
following subparagraph (C), by striking ``such term excludes'' and all 
that follows through the period and inserting the following: ``such 
term excludes (i) any committee that is composed wholly of full-time, 
or permanent part-time, officers or employees of the Federal 
Government, and (ii) any committee that is created by the National 
Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Public 
Administration.''.
    (b) Requirements Relating to the National Academy of Sciences and 
the National Academy of Public Administration.--Such Act is further 
amended by redesignating section 15 as section 16 and inserting after 
section 14 the following new section:

  ``requirements relating to the national academy of sciences and the 
               national academy of public administration

    ``Sec. 15. (a) In General.--An agency may not use any advice or 
recommendation provided by the National Academy of Sciences or National 
Academy of Public Administration that was developed by use of a 
committee created by that academy under an agreement with an agency, 
unless--
            ``(1) the committee was not subject to any actual 
        management or control by an agency or an officer of the Federal 
        Government;
            ``(2) in the case of a committee created after the date of 
        the enactment of the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments 
        of 1997, the membership of the committee was appointed in 
        accordance with the requirements described in subsection 
        (b)(1); and
            ``(3) in developing the advice or recommendation, the 
        academy complied with--
                    ``(A) subsection (b)(2) through (6), in the case of 
                any advice or recommendation provided by the National 
                Academy of Sciences; or
                    ``(B) subsection (b)(2) and (5), in the case of any 
                advice or recommendation provided by the National 
                Academy of Public Administration.
    ``(b) Requirements.--The requirements referred to in subsection (a) 
are as follows:
            ``(1) The Academy shall determine and provide public notice 
        of the names and brief biographies of individuals that the 
        Academy appoints or intends to appoint to serve on the 
        committee. The Academy shall determine and provide a reasonable 
        opportunity for the public to comment on such appointments 
        before they are made or, if the Academy determines such prior 
        comment is not practicable, in the period immediately following 
        the appointments. The Academy shall make its best efforts to 
        ensure that (A) no individual appointed to serve on the 
        committee has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the 
        functions to be performed, unless such conflict is promptly and 
        publicly disclosed and the Academy determines that the conflict 
        is unavoidable, (B) the committee membership is fairly balanced 
        as determined by the Academy to be appropriate for the 
        functions to be performed, and (C) the final report of the 
        Academy will be the result of the Academy's independent 
        judgment. The Academy shall require that individuals that the 
        Academy appoints or intends to appoint to serve on the 
        committee inform the Academy of the individual's conflicts of 
        interest that are relevant to the functions to be performed.
            ``(2) The Academy shall determine and provide public notice 
        of committee meetings that will be open to the public.
            ``(3) The Academy shall ensure that meetings of the 
        committee to gather data from individuals who are not 
        officials, agents, or employees of the Academy are open to the 
        public, unless the Academy determines that a meeting would 
        disclose matters described in section 552(b) of title 5, United 
        States Code. The Academy shall make available to the public, at 
        reasonable charge if appropriate, written materials presented 
        to the committee by individuals who are not officials, agents, 
        or employees of the Academy, unless the Academy determines that 
        making material available would disclose matters described in 
        that section.
            ``(4) The Academy shall make available to the public as 
        soon as practicable, at reasonable charge if appropriate, a 
        brief summary of any committee meeting that is not a data 
        gathering meeting, unless the Academy determines that the 
        summary would disclose matters described in section 552(b) of 
        title 5, United States Code. The summary shall identify the 
        committee members present, the topics discussed, materials made 
        available to the committee, and such other matters that the 
        Academy determines should be included.
            ``(5) The Academy shall make available to the public its 
        final report, at reasonable charge if appropriate, unless the 
        Academy determines that the report would disclose matters 
        described in section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code. If 
        the Academy determines that the report would disclose matters 
        described in that section, the Academy shall make public an 
        abbreviated version of the report that does not disclose those 
        matters.
            ``(6) After publication of the final report, the Academy 
        shall make publicly available the names of the principal 
        reviewers who reviewed the report in draft form and who are not 
        officials, agents, or employees of the Academy.
    ``(c) Regulations.--The Administrator of General Services may issue 
regulations implementing this section.''.
    (c) Effective Date and Application.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), this 
        section and the amendments made by this section shall take 
        effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Retroactive effect.--Subsection (a) and the amendments 
        made by subsection (a) shall be effective as of October 6, 
        1972, except that they shall not apply with respect to or 
        otherwise affect any particular advice or recommendations that 
        are subject to any judicial action filed before the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator of General Services shall submit a report to the 
Congress on the implementation of and compliance with the amendments 
made by this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 10 
      (legislative day, November 9), 1997.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.