[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6985 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6985

To establish an Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2018

  Mr. Curtis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish an Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee, 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 ``Intercountry Adoption Advisory 
Committee Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of State may establish within the 
Bureau of Consular Affairs an intercountry adoption advisory committee 
(the ``Advisory Committee'').
    (b) Duties.--
            (1) In general.--If the Advisory Committee is established 
        under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall consult the 
        Advisory Committee, as appropriate, on intercountry adoption, 
        including on the development, refinement, and implementation of 
        policies and programs pertaining to intercountry adoption.
            (2) Recommendations.--The Advisory Committee shall develop, 
        at the request of the Secretary, recommendations for 
        improvements to intercountry adoption.
            (3) Periodic reports.--The Advisory Committee shall 
        periodically submit to the Secretary of State--
                    (A) reports on matters identified by the Secretary; 
                and
                    (B) reports on other matters identified by a 
                majority of the members of the Advisory Committee.
            (4) Annual report.--The Advisory Committee shall submit to 
        the Secretary of State an annual report providing information 
        on the activities, findings, and recommendations of the 
        Advisory Committee for the preceding year. Not later than 180 
        days after the date that the Secretary receives the annual 
        report, the Secretary shall publish a public version describing 
        the Advisory Committee's activities and such related matters as 
        would be informative to the public consistent with the policy 
        of section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code.
            (5) Feedback.--Not later than 90 days after receiving 
        recommendations transmitted by the Advisory Committee under 
        paragraph (4), the Secretary of State shall respond in writing 
        to the Advisory Committee with feedback on each of the 
        recommendations, an action plan to implement any of the 
        recommendations with which the Secretary concurs, and a 
        justification for why any of the recommendations have been 
        rejected.
            (6) Congressional notification.--Not later than 30 days 
        after providing written feedback to the Advisory Committee 
        under paragraph (5), the Secretary of State shall notify 
        Congress of the feedback.
    (c) Membership.--Not later than 180 days after establishing the 
Advisory Committee under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall 
appoint the members of the Advisory Committee. The members so appointed 
shall include groups representing adoption service providers, adoptive 
families, adoptees, adoption attorneys, social workers, and 
representatives of U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) and 
the Department of State.
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