    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 10 (Monday, March 10, 1997)]
    [Pages 277-278]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Executive Order 13037--Commission To Study Capital Budgeting

    March 3, 1997

        By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
    the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Advisory
    Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), it is hereby ordered as
    follows:
        Section 1. Establishment. There is established the Commission to
    Study Capital Budgeting (``Commission''). The Commission shall be
    bipartisan and shall be composed of 11 members appointed by the
    President. The members of the Commission shall be chosen from among
    individuals with expertise in public and private finance, government
    officials, and leaders in the labor and business communities. The
    President shall designate two co-chairs from among the members of the
    Commission.
        Sec. 2. Functions. The Commission shall report on the following:
    (a)          Capital budgeting practices in other countries, in State
                and local governments in this country, and in the private
                sector; the differences and similarities in their capital
                budgeting concepts and processes; and the pertinence of
                their capital budgeting practices for budget decisionmaking
                and accounting for actual budget outcomes by the Federal
                Government;
    (b)          The appropriate definition of capital for Federal
                budgeting, including: use of capital for the Federal
                Government itself or the economy at large; owner

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                ship by the Federal Government or some other entity; defense
                and nondefense capital; physical capital and intangible or
                human capital; distinctions among investments in and for
                current, future, and retired workers; distinctions between
                capital to increase productivity and capital to enhance the
                quality of life; and existing definitions of capital for
                budgeting;
    (c)         The role of depreciation in capital budgeting, and the
                concept and measurement of depreciation for purposes of a
                Federal capital budget; and
    (d)         The effect of a Federal capital budget on budgetary choices
                between capital and noncapital means of achieving public
                objectives; implications for macroeconomic stability; and
                potential mechanisms for budgetary discipline.
        Sec. 3. Report. The Commission shall adopt its report through
    majority vote of its full membership. The Commission shall report to the
    National Economic Council by March 15, 1998, or within 1 year from its
    first meeting.
        Sec 4. Administration. (a) Members of the Commission shall serve
    without compensation for their work on the Commission. While engaged in
    the work of the Commission, members appointed from among private
    citizens of the United States may be allowed travel expenses, including
    per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons
    serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707).
        (b) The Department of the Treasury shall provide the Commission with
    funding and administrative support. The Commission may have a paid
    staff, including detailees from Federal agencies. The Secretary of the
    Treasury shall perform the functions of the President under the Federal
    Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), except that of
    reporting to the Congress, in accordance with the guidelines and
    procedures established by the Administrator of General Services.
        Sec. 5. General Provisions. The Commission shall terminate 30 days
    after submitting its report.
                                                William J. Clinton
    The White House,
    March 3, 1997.

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., March 5,
    1997]

    Note: This Executive order was released by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on March 4, and it was published in the Federal Register on
    March 6.