S. 793 

One Hundred Thirteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE FIRST SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and thirteen 

An Act 

To support revitalization and reform of the Organization of American States, and 

for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Organization of American States 

Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress makes the following findings: 

(1) The Charter of the Organization of American States 

recognizes that— 

(A) representative democracy is indispensable for the 

stability, peace, and development of the Western Hemisphere; and 

(B) a purpose of the Organization of American States 

is to promote and consolidate representative democracy, 

with due respect for the principle of nonintervention. 

(2) The United States supports the purposes and principles 

enshrined in— 

(A) the Charter of the Organization of American States; 

(B) the Inter-American Democratic Charter; and 

(C) the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties 

of Man. 

(3) The United States supports the Organization of American States in its efforts with all member states to meet our 

commitments under the instruments set forth in paragraph 

(2). 

(4) Congress supports the Organization of American States 

as it operates in a manner consistent with the Inter-American 

Democratic Charter. 

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

It is the policy of the United States— 

(1) to promote democracy and the rule of law throughout 

the Western Hemisphere; 

(2) to promote and protect human rights and fundamental 

freedoms in the Western Hemisphere; and 

(3) to support the practices, purposes, and principles 

expressed in the Charter of the Organization of American 

States, the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties 

of Man, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and other 

fundamental instruments of democracy. 
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SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

It is the sense of Congress that— 

(1) the Organization of American States (OAS) should be 

the primary multi-lateral diplomatic entity for regional dispute 

resolution and promotion of democratic governance and institutions; 

(2) the OAS is a valuable platform from which to launch 

initiatives aimed to benefit the countries of the Western Hemisphere; 

(3) the Summit of the Americas institution and process 

embodies a valuable complement to regional dialogue and 

cooperation; 

(4) the Summit of the Americas process should be formally 

and more effectively integrated into the work of the OAS, 

the Inter-American Development Bank, and other Members 

of the Joint Summit Working Group, and the OAS should 

play a central role in overseeing and managing the Summit 

process; 

(5) the OAS General Assembly and the Summit of the 

Americas events should be combined geographically and chronologically in the years in which they coincide; 

(6) the OAS has historically accepted too many mandates 

from its member states, resulting in both lack of clarity on 

priorities and loss of institutional focus, which in turn has 

reduced the effectiveness of the organization; 

(7) to ensure an appropriate balance of priorities, the OAS 

should review its core functions no less than annually and 

seek opportunities to reduce the number of mandates not 

directly related to its core functions; 

(8) key OAS strengths lie in strengthening peace and security, promoting and consolidating representative democracy, 

regional dispute resolution, election assistance and monitoring, 

fostering economic growth and development cooperation, facilitating trade, combating illicit drug trafficking and transnational 

crime, and support for the Inter-American Human Rights 

System; 

(9) the core competencies referred to in paragraph (8) 

should remain central to the strategic planning process of the 

OAS and the consideration of future mandates; 

(10) any new OAS mandates should be accepted by the 

member states only after an analysis is conducted and formally 

presented consisting of a calculation of the financial costs associated with the mandate, an assessment of the comparative 

advantage of the OAS in the implementation of the mandate, 

and a description of the ways in which the mandate advances 

the organization’s core mission; 

(11) any new mandates should include, in addition to the 

analysis described in paragraph (10), an identification of the 

source of funding to be used to implement the mandate; 

(12) the OAS would benefit from enhanced coordination 

between the OAS and the Inter-American Development Bank 

on issues that relate to economic development; 

(13) the OAS would benefit from standard reporting 

requirements for each project and grant agreement; 

(14) the OAS would benefit from effective implementation 

of— 
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(A) transparent and merit-based human resource 

standards and processes; and 

(B) transparent hiring, firing, and promotion standards 

and processes, including with respect to factors such as 

gender and national origin; and 

(15) it is in the interest of the United States, OAS member 

states, and a modernized OAS to move toward an assessed 

fee structure that assures the financial sustainability of the 

organization and establishes, not later than five years after 

the date of the enactment of this Act, that no member state 

pays more than 50 percent of the organization’s assessed fees. 

SEC. 5. ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES REVITALIZATION AND 

REFORM STRATEGY. 

(a) STRATEGY.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 

a multiyear strategy that— 

(A) identifies a path toward the adoption of necessary 

reforms that prioritize and reinforce the OAS’s core competencies described in section 4(8); 

(B) outlines an approach to secure from the OAS effective adoption of— 

(i) a results-based budgeting process in order to 

strategically prioritize, and where appropriate, reduce 

current and future mandates; and 

(ii) transparent hiring, firing, and promotion practices; 

(C) reflects the inputs and coordination from other 

Executive Branch agencies, as appropriate; and 

(D) identifies a path toward the adoption of necessary 

reforms that would— 

(i) lead to an assessed fee structure in which no 

member state would pay more than 50 percent of the 

OAS’s assessed yearly fees; and 

(ii) seek to minimize the negative financial impact 

on the OAS and its operations. 

(2) POLICY PRIORITIES AND COORDINATION.—The Secretary 

of State shall— 

(A) carry out diplomatic engagement to build support 

for reforms and budgetary burden sharing among OAS 

member states and observers; and 

(B) promote donor coordination among OAS member 

states. 

(b) BRIEFINGS.—The Secretary of State shall offer to the 

committees referred to in subsection (a)(1) a quarterly briefing 

that— 

(1) reviews assessed and voluntary contributions; 

(2) analyzes the progress made by the OAS to adopt and 

effectively implement a results-based budgeting process in order 

to strategically prioritize, and where appropriate, reduce current and future mandates; 

(3) analyzes the progress made by the OAS to adopt and 

effectively implement transparent and merit-based human 

resource standards and practices and transparent hiring, firing, 
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and promotion standards and processes, including with respect 

to factors such as gender and national origin; 

(4) analyzes the progress made by the OAS to adopt and 

effectively implement a practice of soliciting member quotas 

to be paid on a schedule that will improve the consistency 

of its operating budget; and 

(5) analyzes the progress made by the OAS to review, 

streamline, and prioritize mandates to focus on core missions 

and make efficient and effective use of available funding. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.