§ 9. Establishment and purpose of advisory committees: publication in Federal Register; charter: filing, contents, copy (a) No advisory committee shall be established unless such establishment is— (1) specifically authorized by statute or by the President; or (2) determined as a matter of formal record, by the head of the agency involved after consultation with the Administrator with timely notice published in the Federal Register, to be in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed on that agency by law. (b) Unless otherwise specifically provided by statute or Presidential directive, advisory committees shall be utilized solely for advisory functions. Determinations of action to be taken and policy to be expressed with respect to matters upon which an advisory committee reports or makes recommendations shall be made solely by the President or an officer of the Federal Government. (c) No advisory committee shall meet or take any action until an advisory committee charter has been filed with (1) the Administrator, in the case of Presidential advisory committees, or (2) with the head of the agency to whom any advisory committee reports and with the standing committees of the Senate and of the House of Representatives having legislative jurisdiction of such agency. Such charter shall contain the following information: (A) the committee's official designation; (B) the committee's objectives and the scope of its activity, (C) the period of time necessary for the committee to carry out its purposes; (D) the agency or official to whom the committee reports; (E) the agency responsible for providing the necessary support for the committee; (F) a description of the duties for which the committee is responsible, and, if such duties are not solely advisory, a specification of the authority for such functions; (G) the estimated annual operating costs in dollars and man-years for such committee; (H) the estimated number and frequency of committee meetings; (I) the committee's termination date, if less than two years from the date of the committee's establishment; and (J) the date the charter is filed. A copy of any such charter shall also be furnished to the Library of Congress. § 10. Advisory committee procedures; meetings; notice, publication in Federal Register, regulations: minutes; certification; annual report: Federal officer or employee, attendance (a)(1) Each advisory committee meeting shall be open to the public. (2) Except when the President determines otherwise for reasons of national security, timely notice of each such meeting shall be published in the Federal Register, and the Administrator shall prescribe regulations to provide for other types of public notice to insure that all interested persons are notified of such meeting prior thereto. (3) Interested persons shall be permitted to attend, appear before, or file statements with any advisory committee, subject to such reasonable rules or regulations as the Administrator may prescribe. (b) Subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, the records, reports, transcripts, minutes, appendixes, working papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other documents which were made available to or prepared for or by each advisory committee shall be available for public inspection and copying at a single location in the offices of the advisory committee or the agency to which the advisory committee reports until the advisory committee ceases to exist. (c) Detailed minutes of each meeting of each advisory committee shall be kept and shall contain a record of the persons present, a complete and accurate description of matters discussed and conclusions reached, and copies of all reports received, issued, or approved by the advisory committee. The accuracy of all minutes shall be certified to by the chairman of the advisory committee. (d) Subsections (a)(1) and (a)(3) of this section shall not apply to any portion of an advisory committee meeting where the President, or the head of the agency to which the advisory committee reports, determines that such portion of such meeting may be closed to the public in accordance with subsection (c) of section 552b of title 5. United States Code. Any such determination shail be in writing and shail contain the reasons for such determination. If such a determination is made, the advisory committee shall issue a report at least annuaily setting forth a summary of its activities and such related matters as would be informauve to the public consistent with the policy of section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code. (e) There shall be designated an officer or employee of the Federal Government to chair or attend each meeting of each advisory committee. The officer or employee so designated is authorized, whenever he determines it to be in the public interest, to adjourn any such meeting. No advisory committee shall conduct any meeting in the absence of that officer or employee. (f) Advisory committees shall not hold any meetings except at the call of, or with the advance approval of, a designated officer or employee of the Federal Government, and in the case of advisory committees (other than Presidential advisory committees), with an agenda approved by such officer or employee. § 11. Availability of transcripts; "agency proceeding" (a) Except where prohibited by contractual agreements entered into prior to the effective date of this Act, agencies and advisory committees shall make available to any person, at actual cost of duplication, copies of transcripts of agency proceedings or advisory committee meetings. (b) As used in this section "agency proceeding" means any proceeding as defined in section 551(12) of title 5, United States Code. § 12. Fiscal and administrative provisions; recordkeeping, audit: agency support services (a) Each agency shall keep records as will fully disclose the disposition of any funds which may be at the disposal of its advisory committees and the nature and extent of their activities. The General Services Administration, or such other agency as the President may designate, shall maintain financial records with respect to Presidential advisory committees. The Comptroller General of the United States, or any of his authorized representatives, shall have access, for the purpose of audit and examination, to any such records. (b) Each agency shall be responsible for providing support services for each advisory committee established by or reporting to it unless the establishing authority provides otherwise. Where any such advisory committee reports to more than one agency, only one agency shall be responsible for support services at any one time. In the case of Presidential advisory committees, such services may be provided by the General Services Administration. § 13. Responsibilities of Library of Congress: reports and background papers; depository Subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, the Administrator shall provide for the filing with the Library of Congress of at least eight copies of each report made by every advisory committee and, where appropriate, background papers prepared by consultants. The Librarian of Congress shall establish a depository for such reports and papers where they shall be available to public inspection and use. § 14. Termination of advisory committees: renewal: continuation (a)(1) Each advisory committee which is in existence on the effective date of this Act shall terminate not later than the expiration of the two-year period following such effective date unless (A) in the case of an advisory committee established by the President or an officer of the Federal Government, such advisory committee is renewed by the President or that officer by appropriate action prior to the expiration of such two-year period; or (B) in the case of an advisory committee established by an Act of Congress, its duration is otherwise provided for by law. (2) Each advisory committee established after such effective date shall terminate not later than the expiration of the two-year period beginning on the date of its establishment unless (A) in the case of an advisory committee established by the President or an officer of the Federal Government such advisory committee is renewed by the President or such officer by appropriate action prior to the end of such period; or (B) in the case of an advisory committee established by an Act of Congress, its duration is otherwise provided for by law. (b)(1) Upon the renewal of any advisory committee, such advisory committee shall file a charter in accordance with section 9(c). (2) Any advisory committee established by an Act of Congress shall file a charter in accordance with such section upon the expiration of each successive two-year period following the date of enactment of the Act establishing such advisory committee. (3) No advisory committee required under this subsection to file a charter shall take any action (other than preparation and filing of such charter) prior to the date on which such charter is filed. (c) Any advisory committee which is renewed by the President or any officer of the Federal Government may be continued only for successive two-year periods by appropriate action taken by the President or such officer prior to the date on which such advisory committee would otherwise terminate. § 15. Effective date Except as provided in section 7(b), this Act shall become effective upon the expiration of ninety days following October 6, 1972. DESCRIPTIONS OF CHARTS CHART 1 TOTAL COST FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEES IN NOMINAL DOLLARS This chart shows the cost, in millions, for all advisory committees from 1972-1986. These figures are not adjusted for inflation, so much of the increase from 1972 through 1980 can be attributed to the steep inflation which was prevalent then. CHART 2 TOTAL COST FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEES IN REAL (1972) A large difference is immediately apparent between CHART I CHART 3 TOTAL NUMBER OF ADVISORY COMMITTEES The There are two sets of similar levels of advisory committees, one running from 1972-1977, and the other from 1978-86. decrease is accounted for by the "zero-based" review undertaken by President Carter in 1977. CHART 4 AVERAGE REAL COST OF EACH COMMITTEE IN 1972 DOLLARS This chart shows the cost of each committee, in real (1972) dollars. This is essentially a combination of CHARTS 2 and It allows us to compare the relative average cost of a committee in a given year. 3. CHART 5 TOTAL NUMBER OF MEETINGS The total number of meetings per year is fairly constant, with a peak in 1976, a decrease until 1982, an increase until 1985, and drop in 1986. Although this is useful in that it shows us the scope of advisory committee meetings, a more useful chart is that of the number of meetings per committee. CHART 6 AVERAGE NUMBER OF MEETINGS PER COMMITTEE This chart shows a definite increase in the numbers of page 2 CHART 7 AVERAGE REAL COST OF EACH MEETING IN 1972 DOLLARS This chart shows a peak in cost per meeting in 1979, and then a decrease until 1985. Since the number of meetings per committee was fairly constant from 1980-86 (see CHART 6) one conclusion is that the average cost per meeting has decreased substantially from $12,153 in 1979 to $8,917 in 1986. CHART 8 TOTAL NUMBER OF REPORTS ISSUED Another measure of Committee productivity is the number of reports issued. This chart shows the trend in total reports issued. The sharp decrease after 1979 is partially reflective of the drop in the number of advisory committees, but to understand this more clearly we need to examine the number of reports issued per Committee. CHART 9 AVERAGE NUMBER OF REPORTS PER COMMITTEE This chart shows that the number of reports issued per Committee has stayed fairly close to 0.75 reports per Committee per year before 1980 -- the increase in 1980 and 81 to 1.14 reports per year is difficult to explain. The decrease in number of reports from 1.14 in 1981 to only 0.67 in 1986 is also difficult to explain. CHART 10 AVERAGE REAL COST OF EACH REPORT IN 1972 DOLLARS Another measure of value received from advisory committees is CHART 11 TOTAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS One of the most important features of FACA is its involvement CHART 12 AVERAGE NUMBER OF MEMBERS PER COMMITTEE CHART 13 AVERAGE REAL COST OF EACH MEMBER IN 1972 DOLLARS This chart shows that the real cost per member has dropped significantly after 1979. This could show that the government return for its advisory committee dollar is increasing it gets more input from a wider variety of views for each dollar spent. - |