TITLE: B-305095, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board--Membership Fees, December 8, 2005
BNUMBER: B-305095
DATE: December 8, 2005
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B-305095, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board--Membership Fees, December 8, 2005

   Decision

   Matter of: Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board--Membership Fees

   File: B-305095

   Date:  December 8, 2005

   DIGEST

   The United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (Board)
   appropriation is available to pay the membership fee for the Board to
   become a Corporate Associate member of the Risk Management and Decision
   Processes Center of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
   (Center). An agency may use its appropriation to pay fees for an agency's
   membership in a private association when the membership furthers the
   purpose of the appropriation. The Board's salaries and expenses
   appropriation is available for carrying out activities pursuant to section
   112(r)(6) of the Clean Air Act. The Board has determined that a corporate
   membership in the Center will provide the Board access to facilities,
   experts, and research that will assist the Board in carrying out its
   section 112(r)(6) responsibilities. Therefore, GAO does not object to the
   Board using its appropriation to pay the Center's Corporate Associate fee.

   DECISION

   The United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (Board)
   has requested our decision on whether it may pay the membership fee
   required for the Board to become a Corporate Associate of the Risk
   Management and Decision Processes Center of the Wharton School, University
   of Pennsylvania (Center). Letter from Christopher W. Warner, General
   Counsel, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, to Anthony
   Gamboa, General Counsel, U.S. Government Accountability Office, April 20,
   2005 (Warner Letter). The Board believes that membership in the Center
   could assist it in carrying out its statutory authorities. As explained
   below, we conclude that the Board's appropriations are available to pay
   the Center's membership fee.

   BACKGROUND

   The Board was established as an independent agency by the Clean Air Act
   Amendments of 1990. Pub. L. No. 101-549, title III, sect. 301, 104 Stat.
   2399, 2565 (Nov. 15, 1990) (amending section 112(r)(6) of the Clean Air
   Act), codified at 42 U.S.C. sect. 7412(r)(6). Generally, the Board seeks
   to enhance the health and safety of the public, workers, and the
   environment by investigating the causes of accidental chemical releases
   and using these findings to promote preventive actions by the private and
   public sectors. 42 U.S.C. sect. 7412(r)(6)(C)(i).

   The Center has invited the Board to become a Corporate Associate. Letter
   from Paul R. Kleindorfer and Howard Kunreuther, Co-Directors, Wharton Risk
   Management and Decision Processes Center, to Carolyn W. Merritt, Chairman
   and CEO, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Apr. 15,
   2005 (Wharton Letter). The Center promotes dialogue among industry,
   government, interest groups, and academics through its research and policy
   publications and through sponsored workshops, roundtables, and forums.
   University of Pennsylvania, Risk Management and Decision Processes Center,
   at http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/risk (last visited Oct. 11, 2005). The
   Center's programs include conferences, industry/government roundtables,
   and seminars. Id.

   The annual fee for a Corporate Associate membership is $10,000. Wharton
   Letter. The Board believes that joining the Center would aid it in
   accomplishing its mission, and it asks if its appropriated funds are
   available to pay the Center's membership fee.

   ANALYSIS

   The general rule regarding membership fees is that an agency may use its
   appropriation to pay for an agency membership in a private association
   when the membership furthers the purpose of the appropriation. 53 Comp.
   Gen. 429, 431 (1973); B-302548, Aug. 20, 2004; B-221569, June 2, 1986. The
   expenditure of appropriated funds to pay membership dues of federal
   employees in an organization, association, or society is generally
   prohibited by 5 U.S.C. sect. 5946. B-302548, Aug. 20, 2004; 53 Comp. Gen.
   at 430; B-221569, June 2, 1986. However, the prohibition of 5 U.S.C. sect.
   5946 does not apply to memberships in an agency's name. 53 Comp. Gen. at
   431. In such cases, the payment of membership fees is proper if it would
   constitute a necessary expense.[1] 53 Comp. Gen. 429, 430-31 (1973).

   We have not objected to the use of appropriations to pay membership fees
   under circumstances similar to those under consideration here. For
   example, in 61 Comp. Gen. 542 (1982), we held that the Naval Air
   Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania, could pay for membership
   in the Warminster Rotary Club. The Commander of the Center stated that the
   weekly Rotary Club meetings provided the only forum for naval officials to
   discuss and resolve problems resulting from residential and industrial
   development with the Warminster business and civic leaders. He maintained
   that if these problems were left unattended or unresolved, it would reduce
   the Center's effectiveness. Id. at 544. We agreed that participation in
   the Rotary Club meetings contributed to the Center's effectively carrying
   out its mission. For that reason, we concluded that the Navy's
   appropriation was available to pay the Rotary Club membership fee as a
   necessary expense of the Center's operation. Id. at 544, 545. See also 31
   Comp. Gen. 398 (1952) (Office of Price Stabilization could pay membership
   fees in a credit association to materially reduce the costs of obtaining
   credit reports needed to carry out agency mission); 20 Comp. Gen. 497
   (1941) (Naval Academy appropriations were available to pay for membership
   in the American Council on Education in order to acquire publications on
   educational subjects); B-213535, July 26, 1984 (Federal Law Enforcement
   Center may pay for a membership in the Chamber of Commerce to facilitate
   its public affairs activities, permitting the exchange of information with
   the local business community, and to obtain information relating to
   community activities for the Center's students).

   The Board's appropriation is available "[f]or necessary expenses in
   carrying out activities pursuant to section 112(r)(6) of the Clean Air
   Act, as amended . . . $9,100,000." Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005,
   Pub. L. No. 108-447, div. I, title III, 118 Stat. 2809, 3322 (Dec. 8,
   2004). Section 112(r)(6) of the Clean Air Act specifically authorizes the
   Board to conduct research and studies with nonprofit, industrial, and
   commercial associations and organizations. It provides that:

   "The Board is authorized to conduct research and studies with respect to
   the potential for accidental releases, whether or not an accidental
   release has occurred, where there is evidence which indicates the presence
   of a potential hazard or hazards. To the extent practicable, the Board
   shall conduct such studies in cooperation with other

   Federal agencies having emergency response authorities, State and local
   governmental agencies and associations and organizations from the
   industrial, commercial, and nonprofit sectors."

   42 U.S.C. sect. 7412(r)(6)(F) (emphasis added).

   The Center conducts a program of basic and applied research to promote
   effective policies and programs related to events with catastrophic
   consequences, which would include accidental chemical releases. Wharton
   Letter. Its research focuses on the use of accident history data and the
   role of market mechanisms such as third-party inspections to evaluate
   alternative risk management approaches. University of Pennsylvania, Risk
   Management and Decision Processes Center, at
   http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/risk/core.html (last visited Oct. 11, 2005).
   A focus of the Center's research is to find ways to combine government and
   private sector efforts to achieve safety goals. Wharton Letter. By
   becoming a Corporate Associate, the Board would have priority access to
   the Center's faculty and to its research results, as well as have the
   ability to advise on and shape the direction of the Center's future
   research toward projects that would otherwise be beyond the Board's
   ability to carry out. Warner Letter; Wharton Letter.

   Moreover, Center membership could better enable the Board to make
   recommendations to the Congress, governmental agencies, and other
   interested persons concerned with chemical safety, regarding measures to
   reduce the likelihood or the consequences of accidental chemical releases
   and to propose corrective steps to make chemical production, processing,
   handling, and storage as safe and free from risk of injury as possible. 42
   U.S.C. sect. 7412(r)(6)(C)(ii). The Board points out that membership would
   give it "unique access to some of the most current and sophisticated
   research on risk management science and policy, which the agency could use
   to focus its prevention and research activities on areas where there is
   the greatest need or the greatest potential for benefit." Warner Letter.

   The Board is currently examining how insurers can be better used as agents
   for accident and risk reduction in the chemical industry. Warner Letter.
   One of the Center's key areas of investigation is how insurance can be
   used in dealing with environmental hazard risk through public and private
   partnerships. University of Pennsylvania, Risk Management and Decision
   Processes Center, at http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/risk/core.html (last
   visited Oct. 11, 2005). Membership would allow the Board to "tap into the
   Risk Center's extensive existing relationships with industrial insurers."
   Warner Letter. The Center would provide the Board with a single place to
   make contact with representatives of leading insurers and engage them in
   cooperative efforts to develop and implement measures to reduce the
   likelihood or the consequences of chemical accidents. Id. Consequently, we
   do not object to the Board using its appropriated funds to pay the
   Center's membership fee.

   CONCLUSION

   For the reasons stated above, we concur with the Board's determination
   that becoming a Corporate Associate in the Center could facilitate the
   carrying out of its responsibilities under section 112(r)(6)(C) of the
   Clean Air Act. Accordingly, we conclude that the Board's salaries and
   expenses appropriation, which is expressly
   available for carrying out the Board's activities pursuant to section 112
   of the Clean

   Air Act, is available to pay the membership fee to become a Corporate
   Associate member.

   /signed/

   Anthony H. Gamboa

   General Counsel

   ------------------------

   [1] For a complete discussion of the availability of appropriated funds to
   pay membership fees, see U.S. Government Accountability Office, Principles
   of Federal Appropriations Law, vol. 1, 3^rd ed., GAO-04-261SP at 4-234
   (Washington, D.C.: January 2004).