(2) Economic information and statistical data with respect to such needs, shortages, environmental problems, and technology are collected in various Federal agencies for various purposes; may be duplicative and incomplete; are often not comparable; and are not systematically coordinated and disseminated to the public, the appropriate Federal agencies, the President, and the Congress in a manner which facilitates timely and effective action.

(3) Such lack of coordination, comparability, and dissemination discourages the systematic analysis of the interdependent factors affecting the materials cycle in the long term with respect to such needs, shortages, environmental problems, and technology.

(4) It is important to the national welfare and national security of the United States that the interdependence of the materials cycle regarding such needs, shortages, environmental problems, and technology be systematically analyzed in order to mitigate the impact of long-term materials shortages.

(5) A materials information system is needed to permit analysis of—

(A) the availability of materials essential to industry and to commerce; (B) long-term shortages of materials;

(C) serious environmental problems as nonrenewable materials are used to meet such long-term shortages; and

(D) alternative policy options which will alleviate such shortages and environmental problems.

(b) Purposes.—It is the purpose of this title to establish a materials information system to

(1) improve the regular collection, standardization, comparability, coordination, analysis, and dissemination of information on materials, so as to minimize duplication of reporting and to improve the existing capability of the Federal Government to monitor the availability of materials, including the long-term availability of materials essential to industry and commerce, the serious environmental problems associated with the alleviation of materials shortages, and the impact of materials technology; and

(2) provide the basis for recommending alternative policy options to the President and the Congress for administrative and legislative actions to alleviate such shortages and environmental problems and to improve such materials technology.

SEC. 203. As used in this title

DEFINITIONS

(1) “long-term" refers to predicting and forecasting the availability of materials for 1 to 20 years into the future;

(2) "shortage" refers to a market condition where any such material (1) is essential to industry and the Nation's consumers, and (2) is not reasonably available to all users or can be acquired only at a price which has increased significantly relative to the general price level as a result of limited availability.

MATERIALS INFORMATION SYSTEM

SEC. 204. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—(1) The Council shall review existing materials information systems and activities of Federal agencies with respect to the colJection, standardization, comparability, coordination, analysis, and dissemination of information on the availability of materials, environmental problems with respect to such materials, and materials technology. Within 6 months after enactment of this title, the Council shall establish a coordinated materials information system (hereinafter referred to in this title as the "system") to monitor the availability of materials and to provide the basis for recommending alternative policy options with respect to the long-term availability of materials, with respect to serious environmental problems associated with the alleviation of materials shortages, and with respect to materials technology.

(2) To the extent possible, such system shall utilize existing information ***tems within Federal agencies and shall provide for standardized, timely, and Centrsterized data on materials.

(2) The Council is authorized to acquire by purchase or otherwise from States or other units of local government or from any person copies of records reports, or other data as may be required for the efficient and economical collection of Information necessary for the system.

(4) The Council shall coordinate existing materials information systems and activities of Federal agencies and to the extent it is necessary may enter into agreements to assume all or part of such activities except where such activities are authorized by statute: Provided, however, That nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the collection of materials information by Federal agencies for the purpose of law enforcement or to constrain investigations carried out by independent regulatory agencies.

(b) DESIGN AND CAPABILITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEM.-(1) The Council shall maintain within the system the capability (A) to perform analyses and verification of materials information to the extent necessary to serve the purposes of this title, and (B) to develop and evaluate models characterizing specific sectors of the economy and lines of commerce deemed, by the Council, to be critical to the economy and needs of the Nation's consumers.

(2) Such system shall

(A) utilize appropriate economic models;

(B) utilize modern information filing, storage, search, retrieval, and processing mechanisms;

(C) readily permit quick additions, retrieval, and analyses of data; and (D) maintain data historically and update data periodically to permit time-series analyses. (3) At a minimum, such system shall contain materials data permitting analysis of

(A) the long-term supply and demand for materials within the United States; including projections of major long-term materials shortages;

(B) the primary factors affecting such supply and demand, including capital requirements and current and long-term technology;

(C) the effects on national security and international relations of materials shortages, including the international aspects of the materials situation; and

(D) the extent to which present and proposed activities and programs of the Federal Government may contribute to the cause or prevention of materials shortages.

DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION

SEC. 205. (a) GENERAL AVAILABILITY.-Copies of any communication, document, report, or information received or sent pursuant to the requirements of this title shall be made available to the public and to Federal agencies upon identifiable request unless such information may not be publicly released under the terms of subsection (b). Such request shall be specific in order to facilitate the retrieval of the information. The system shall develop and maintain filing, coding, and indexing systems permitting specific identification of the public information in the system. Such information shall be available to the public for inspection and copying at reasonable cost.

(b) LIMITATIONS. (1) The Council or any officer or employee of the Council shall not disclose any information obtained under this title which is

(A) a trade secret referred to in section 1905 of title 18, United States Code; or

(B) received from a source on a confidential basis pertaining to a particular company, in which such company has a lawful proprietary interest, and concerning which the Council finds that the public disclosure thereof would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of such company. (2) The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply when such information is disclosed, in a manner designed to preserve its confidentiality—

(A) to other Federal agencies and officials for official use upon request; (B) to committees of Congress having jurisdiction over the subject matter to which the information relates; or

(C) to a court in any judicial proceeding under court order formulated to preserve the confidentiality of such information without impairing the proceedings.

REPORTS

SEC. 206. On or before January 20 of each year, the Council shall submit to the President and the Congress a report of activities under this title, including an analysis of

(1) the availability of materials essential to industry and to the Nation's consumers, including current and long-term trends in the supply and demand for materials;

(2) serious environmental problems associated with the supply of materials;

(3) national and international trends affecting such availability;

(4) materials activities and programs of the Federal Government affecting such availability; and

(5) alternative policy options for administrative and legislative actions to maintain an adequate supply of materials, including but not limited to programs for materials conservation, stockpiling, and materials research and development; and the economic, social, and environmental strengths and weaknesses of the policy options specified.

GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE OVERSIGHT

SEC. 207. The Comptroller General of the United States (hereinafter referred to as "Comptroller General") shall be responsible for continuously monitoring and evaluating the operations of the Council pursuant to the requirements of this title. Upon the Comptroller General's own initiative or upon the request of a committee of the Congress, the Comptroller General shall (1) review the system's materials information gathering procedures to insure that the system is obtaining all necessary materials information from the appropriate sources to carry out the purpose of this title; (2) review the issues that arise or might arise in the collection of any of the types of materials information required to achieve the purposes of this title, including but not limited to issues attributable to claims of business establishments, individuals, or governments that certain information is proprietary or violative of national security; (3) conduct studies of existing statutes and regulations governing the collection of material information; and (4) review the policies and practices of Federal agencies in collecting, standardizing, comparing, coordinating, analyzing, and disseminating such materials information. The Comptroller General shall have access to all information within the possession or control of the council obtained from any public or private source whatever, notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act, as is necessary to carry out such Comptroller General's responsibilities under this title.

AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 208. There are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of this title such sums as are necessary not to exceed $10,000,000 for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1976; $8,000,000 for the transitional fiscal quarter ending on September 30, 1976; and $17,000,000 for the fiscal year ending on September 30, 1977.

TITLE III-MATERIALS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

SHORT TITLE

SEC. 301. This title may be cited as the "Materials Research and Development Act".

DECLARATION OF POLICY

SEC. 302. (a) FINDINGS.-The Congress finds that

(1) The availability of materials can be expanded through improved technology on materials and processing.

(2) The shortage of environmentally acceptable forms of energy necessitates research and development of materials that will erode, corrode, or fracture, especially in high temperature energy producing systems.

(3) Insufficient resources, both by Federal agencies, and private interests, are being devoted to materials research and development.

(4) An intensive materials research and development program would hasten the development of new technology to conserve materials and to maximize the efficient utilization of materials.

(5) Such program should be consistent with environmental and energy conservation goals and should not result in any unreasonable health or environmental cost.

(b) PURPOSE.—It is therefore the purpose of the Congress in this title to coordinate the materials research and development activities of Federal agencies and to establish within the Department of Commerce a materials research and development program to make contracts and grants for materials research, development, and demonstration projects in order to conserve materials and to maximize the efficient utilization of materials.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 303. As used in this title, the term—

(1) "materials effectiveness" means the extent to which materials are utilized with maximum efficiency;

(2) "product life" means the length of time a durable good is used for its intended purpose;

(3) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce; and

(4) "substitution" refers to the substitution of one material for another, the substitution of one process of producing a durable good from a material for another process, or the substitution of one materials property function, or level of functions for another.

MATERIALS RESEARCH PRIORITIES

SEC. 304. (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMITTEE.-The Council shall establish and be responsible for a Materials Research and Development Coordinating Committee (hereinafter referred to as "Committee"), which shall be composed of nine members, including but not limited to the Chairman of the Council, representatives of the Secretary, the Administrator of the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Secretary of Interior, the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Committee shall review and coordinate the materials research and development activities of Federal agencies, in order to avoid duplication and to promote efficiency.

(b) REPORT ON RESEARCH PRIORITIES.-(1) The Committee, in consultation with materials technical societies and materials trade associations, shall establish broad materials research and development priorities to conserve materials and to maximize the efficient utilization of materials.

(2) In establishing such priorities, the Committee shall consider

(A) the impact on materials conservation and materials effectiveness of alternate research priorities, such as corrosion, fracture mechanisms, fatigue, composite materials, friction and wear, recyclability, and nondestructive testing; and

(B) research priorities which offer potential for the development of substitutes for those major materials that are important to the national or economic security, particularly those materials upon which the Nation is dependent on foreign sources.

(3) The Council shall publish, not later than 180 days after the enactment of this title, a report outlining such Committee's priorities and identifying those research, development, and demonstration projects which are most likely to meet such priorities, including projects for the development of techniques—

(A) to increase materials substitution;

(B) to extend the product life of durable goods;

(C) to conserve materials through the product design of durable goods; (D) to reduce materials wastage, including the recycling and reuse of materials;

(E) to increase the materials effectiveness of materials used in energy producing systems; and

(F) to discover and to extract materials more effectively.

DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY

SEC. 305. The Secretary shall establish, within the Department of Commerce, a materials research and development program in accordance with the priorities established by the Committee. In furtherance of that program, the Secretary shall

(1) make contracts and grants for research, development, and demonstration projects which are likely to conserve materials or to maximize the efficient utilization of materials and which are listed in the Council's report under section 304;

(2) conduct and accelerate research and development, within the National Bureau of Standards, which may conserve materials or maximize the efficient utilization of materials and which is responsive to the Committee's priorities under section 304;

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POWERS OF THE SECRETARY

Sec. 307. In addition to the powers specifically enumerated in any other provision of this title, the Secretary is authorized to

(1) appoint such attorneys, employees, agents, consultants, and other personnel as the Secretary deems necessary, define the duties of such personnel, determine the amount of compensation and other benefits for the services of such personnel and pay them accordingly;

(2) procure temporary and intermittent services to the same extent as is authorized under section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed $150 a day for qualified experts;

(3) obtain the assistance of any department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government upon written request, on a reimbursable basis or otherwise, identifying the assistance the Secretary deems necessary to carry out any duty under this title. Such assistance shall include, but is not limited to transfer of personnel with their consent and without prejudice to their position and rating;

(4) enter into, without regard to section 3709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (41 U.S.C. 5), such contracts. leases, cooperative agreements, or other transactions, with any government agency or any person, as may be necessary in the conduct of duties under this title; and

(5) purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire, improve, use, or deal in and with any property; sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any property or other assets; and accept gifts or donations of any property or services in aid of any purpose of this title.

CONTRACTS AND GRANTS

SEC. 308. (a) GENERAL.-(1) The Secretary shall provide funds, by contract and grant, to initiate, continue, supplement, and maintain research, development, and demonstration projects or activities described under section 304 of this title. (2) The Secretary is authorized to make such contracts and grants with any Federal agency, laboratory, university, nonprofit organization, industrial organization, public or private agency, institutions, organization, corporation, partnership, or individual.

(b) CONSULTATION.-In addition to the requirements of section 306 of this title, the Secretary, in the exercise of duties and responsibilities under this section, shall establish procedures for periodic consultation with representatives of science, industry, and such other groups as may have special expertise in the area of materials research, development, and technology. The Secretary is authorized