[105th Congress Public Law 153]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


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[DOCID: f:publ153.105]


[[Page 111 STAT. 2689]]

Public Law 105-153
105th Congress

                                 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. <<NOTE: Dec. 17, 
                         1997 -  [H.R. 2977]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Federal Advisory 
Committee Act Amendments of 1997.>> 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. <<NOTE: 5 USC app. 1 note.>> 

    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--

[[Page 111 STAT. 2690]]

                    ``(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) <<NOTE: Notice.>>  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) <<NOTE: Notice.>>  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) <<NOTE: Reports.>>  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

[[Page 111 STAT. 2691]]

        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) <<NOTE: 5 USC app. 3 note.>>  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. <<NOTE: 5 USC app. 15 note.>> 

    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.

    Approved December 17, 1997.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 2977:
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 143 (1997):
            Nov. 9, considered and passed House.
            Nov. 13, considered and passed Senate.

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