[105th Congress Public Law 153]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
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[DOCID: f:publ153.105]
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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--
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``(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
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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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