116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1608 

AN ACT 

To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to increase 

the transparency of Federal advisory committees, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2019’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Ensuring independent advice and expertise. 

Sec. 3. Preventing efforts to circumvent the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

and public disclosure. 

Sec. 4. Increasing transparency of advisory committees. 

Sec. 5. Managing Federal advisory committees. 

Sec. 6. Comptroller General review and reports. 

Sec. 7. Application of Federal Advisory Committee Act to trade advisory committees. 

Sec. 8. Definitions. 

Sec. 9. Technical and conforming amendments. 

Sec. 10. Effective date. 

Sec. 11. No additional funds authorized. 

6 SEC. 2. ENSURING INDEPENDENT ADVICE AND EXPERTISE. 

7 (a) BAR ON POLITICAL LITMUS TESTS.—Section 9 

8 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) 

9 is amended— 

10 (1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘MEM11 BERSHIP;’’ after ‘‘ADVISORY COMMITTEES;’’; 

12 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 

13 subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 

14 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENTS MADE WITHOUT REGARD TO

17 POLITICAL AFFILIATION OR ACTIVITY.—All appointments 

18 to advisory committees shall be made without regard to 
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1 political affiliation or political campaign activity, unless re2 quired by Federal statute.’’. 

3 (b) MINIMIZING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—Section 

4 9 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), 

5 as amended by subsection (a) of this section, is further 

6 amended by inserting after subsection (b) (as added by 

7 such subsection (a)) the following: 

8 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC NOMINATIONS OF COMMITTEE MEM9 BERS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) Before making an appointment to an advi11 sory committee, the head of an agency shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) solicit nominations for potential com13 mittee members; 

14 ‘‘(B) if the head of the agency is required 

15 to publish a notice under subsection (a)(2), in16 clude in the notice a solicitation for nomina17 tions of potential committee members; and 

18 ‘‘(C) provide in the notice under subpara19 graph (B) a mechanism for interested persons 

20 to comment through a publicly available website 

21 of the agency. 

22 ‘‘(2) The head of an agency shall consider any 

23 comments submitted in accordance with paragraph 

24 (1)(C) in appointing the members of an advisory 

25 committee. 
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1 ‘‘(3) The head of an agency shall solicit nomi2 nations under paragraph (1) not less frequently than 

3 once every 2 years. 

4 ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if a va5 cancy in an advisory committee occurs before the 

6 next scheduled solicitation for nominations under 

7 this subsection, an agency may appoint a member 

8 from among individuals that were previously nomi9 nated to be a member of the advisory committee. 

10 ‘‘(d) DESIGNATION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) An individual appointed to an advisory 

12 committee who is not a full-time or permanent part13 time officer or employee of the Federal Government 

14 shall be designated as— 

15 ‘‘(A) a special Government employee, if the 

16 individual is providing advice based on the indi17 vidual’s expertise or experience; or 

18 ‘‘(B) a representative, if the individual is 

19 representing the views of an entity or entities 

20 outside of the Federal Government. 

21 ‘‘(2) An agency may not designate committee 

22 members as representatives to avoid subjecting them 

23 to Federal ethics rules and requirements. 

24 ‘‘(3) The designated agency ethics official for 

25 each agency shall review the members of each advi-
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1 sory committee that reports to the agency to deter2 mine whether each member’s designation is appro3 priate, and to redesignate members if appropriate. 

4 The designated agency ethics official shall certify to 

5 the head of the agency that such review has been 

6 made— 

7 ‘‘(A) following the initial appointment of 

8 members; and 

9 ‘‘(B) at the time a committee’s charter is 

10 renewed, or, in the case of a committee with an 

11 indefinite charter, every 2 years. 

12 ‘‘(4) The head of each agency shall inform each 

13 individual who is not a full-time or permanent part14 time officer or employee of the Federal Government 

15 appointed to an advisory committee that reports to 

16 the agency whether the individual is appointed as a 

17 special Government employee or as a representative. 

18 The agency head shall provide each committee mem19 ber with an explanation of the differences between 

20 special Government employees and representatives 

21 and a summary of applicable ethics requirements. 

22 The agency head, acting through the designated 

23 agency ethics official, shall obtain signed and dated 

24 written confirmation from each committee member 
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1 that the member received and reviewed the informa2 tion required by this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(5) The Director of the Office of Government 

4 Ethics shall provide guidance to agencies on what to 

5 include in the summary of ethics requirements re6 quired by paragraph (4). 

7 ‘‘(6) The head of each agency shall, to the ex8 tent practicable, develop and implement strategies to 

9 minimize the need for written determinations under 

10 section 208(b)(3) of title 18, United States Code. 

11 Strategies may include such efforts as improving 

12 outreach efforts to potential committee members and 

13 seeking public input on potential committee mem14 bers. 

15 ‘‘(7) Nothing in this subsection shall be con16 strued to supersede the inapplicability of this Act 

17 with respect to peer review groups appointed under 

18 paragraph (16) of section 402(b) of the Public 

19 Health Service Act, as described in the flush text 

20 following paragraph (25)(B) of such section.’’. 

21 (c) REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING FACA.—Section 

22 7(c) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

23 App.) is amended by inserting ‘‘promulgate regulations 

24 and’’ after ‘‘The Administrator shall’’. 
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1 (d) ENSURING INDEPENDENT ADVICE AND REC2 OMMENDATIONS.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act 

3 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 

4 (1) in section 8— 

5 (A) in the section heading, by inserting 

6 ‘‘INDEPENDENT ADVICE AND REC7 OMMENDATIONS;’’ after ‘‘RESPONSIBIL8 ITIES OF AGENCY HEADS;’’; 

9 (B) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub10 section (c); and 

11 (C) by inserting after subsection (a) the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(b) The head of each agency shall ensure that the 

14 agency does not interfere with the free and independent 

15 participation, expression of views, and deliberation by 

16 committee members. Each advisory committee shall in17 clude a statement describing the process used by the advi18 sory committee in formulating the advice and rec19 ommendations when they are transmitted to the agency.’’; 

20 and 

21 (2) in section 10— 

22 (A) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘; 

23 CHAIR’’ after ‘‘ATTENDANCE’’; and 

24 (B) by inserting after subsection (f) the 

25 following new subsection: 
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1 ‘‘(g) The chair shall not be an employee of the agency 

2 to which the advisory committee reports, unless— 

3 ‘‘(1) a statute specifically authorizes selection of 

4 such an employee as the chair; or 

5 ‘‘(2) the head of the agency directs an employee 

6 to serve as the chair.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. PREVENTING EFFORTS TO CIRCUMVENT THE FED8 ERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT AND PUB9 LIC DISCLOSURE. 

10 (a) SUBCOMMITTEES.—Section 4 of the Federal Ad11 visory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by 

12 striking subsection (a) and inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—The provisions of this Act or of 

14 any rule, order, or regulation promulgated under this Act 

15 shall apply to each advisory committee, including any sub16 committee or subgroup thereof, except to the extent that 

17 any Act of Congress establishing any such advisory com18 mittee specifically provides otherwise. Any subcommittee 

19 or subgroup that reports to a parent committee estab20 lished under section 9(a) is not required to comply with 

21 section 9(f).’’. 

22 (b) COMMITTEES CREATED UNDER CONTRACT.— 

23 Section 3(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

24 U.S.C. App.) is amended in the matter following subpara25 graph (C) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An advi-
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1 sory committee is considered to be established by an agen2 cy, agencies, or the President if it is formed, created, or 

3 organized under contract, other transactional authority, 

4 cooperative agreement, grant, or otherwise at the request 

5 or direction of an agency, agencies, or the President.’’. 

6 (c) ADVISORY COMMITTEES CONTAINING SPECIAL

7 GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Section 4 of the Federal Ad8 visory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), as amended by 

9 subsections (a) and (b) of this section, is further amended 

10 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Com12 mittee members appointed as special Government employ13 ees shall not be considered full-time or permanent part14 time officers or employees of the Federal Government for 

15 purposes of determining the applicability of this Act under 

16 section 3(2).’’. 

17 SEC. 4. INCREASING TRANSPARENCY OF ADVISORY COM18 MITTEES. 

19 (a) INFORMATION REQUIREMENT.—Section 11 of the 

20 Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is 

21 amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 11. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each advisory 

24 committee, the head of the agency to which the advisory 
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1 committee reports shall make publicly available in accord2 ance with subsection (b) the following information: 

3 ‘‘(1) The charter of the advisory committee. 

4 ‘‘(2) A description of the process used to estab5 lish and appoint the members of the advisory com6 mittee, including the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) The process for identifying prospec8 tive members. 

9 ‘‘(B) The process of selecting members for 

10 balance of viewpoints or expertise. 

11 ‘‘(C) The reason each member was ap12 pointed to the committee. 

13 ‘‘(D) A justification of the need for rep14 resentative members, if any. 

15 ‘‘(3) A list of all current members, including, 

16 for each member, the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) The name of any person or entity 

18 that nominated the member. 

19 ‘‘(B) Whether the member is— 

20 ‘‘(i) designated as a special Govern21 ment employee; 

22 ‘‘(ii) a representative; or 

23 ‘‘(iii) a full-time or permanent part24 time officer or employee of the Federal 

25 Government. 
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1 ‘‘(C) In the case of a representative, the 

2 individuals or entity whose viewpoint the mem3 ber represents. 

4 ‘‘(4) A list of all members designated as special 

5 Government employees for whom written certifi6 cations were made under section 208(b) of title 18, 

7 United States Code, a copy of each such certifi8 cation, a summary description of the conflict necessi9 tating the certification, and the reason for granting 

10 the certification. 

11 ‘‘(5) Any recusal agreement made by a member 

12 or any recusal known to the agency that occurs dur13 ing the course of a meeting or other work of the 

14 committee. 

15 ‘‘(6) A summary of the process used by the ad16 visory committee for making decisions. 

17 ‘‘(7) Detailed minutes of all meetings of the 

18 committee and a description of committee efforts to 

19 make meetings accessible to the public using online 

20 technologies (such as video recordings) or other 

21 techniques (such as audio recordings). 

22 ‘‘(8) Any written determination by the Presi23 dent or the head of the agency to which the advisory 

24 committee reports, pursuant to section 10(d), to 
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1 close a meeting or any portion of a meeting and the 

2 reasons for such determination. 

3 ‘‘(9) Notices of future meetings of the com4 mittee. 

5 ‘‘(10) Any additional information considered 

6 relevant by the head of the agency to which the advi7 sory committee reports. 

8 ‘‘(b) MANNER OF DISCLOSURE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para10 graph (2), the head of an agency shall make the in11 formation required to be disclosed under subsection 

12 (a) available electronically on a publicly available 

13 website of the agency and to the Administrator at 

14 least 15 calendar days before each meeting of an ad15 visory committee. If the head of the agency deter16 mines that such timing is not practicable for any re17 quired information, such head shall make the infor18 mation available as soon as practicable but no later 

19 than 48 hours before the next meeting of the com20 mittee. An agency may withhold from disclosure any 

21 information that would be exempt from disclosure 

22 under section 552 of title 5, United States Code. 

23 ‘‘(2) WEBSITE AVAILABILITY.—The head of an 

24 agency shall make available electronically, on a pub25 licly available website of the agency, detailed min-
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1 utes and, to the extent available, a transcript or 

2 audio or video recording of each advisory committee 

3 meeting not later than 45 calendar days after such 

4 meeting. 

5 ‘‘(3) GRANT REVIEWS.—In the case of grant re6 views, disclosure of information required by sub7 section (a)(3) may be provided in the aggregate 

8 rather than by individual grant. 

9 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF INFORMATION BY ADMINIS10 TRATOR OF GENERAL SERVICES.—The Administrator of 

11 General Services shall provide, on a publicly available 

12 website of the General Services Administration, electronic 

13 access to the information made available by each agency 

14 under this section. 

15 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF MEETING MATERIALS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2) and where prohibited by contractual 

18 agreements entered into prior to the effective date of 

19 the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 

20 2019, agencies and advisory committees shall make 

21 available to any person, at actual cost of duplication, 

22 copies of advisory committee meeting materials. 

23 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—Nothing in this sub24 section shall be construed to require the disclosure 
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1 of information that is protected from mandatory dis2 closure by statute.’’. 

3 (b) CHARTER FILING.—Subsection (f) of section 9 of 

4 the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), as 

5 redesignated by section 2(a) of this Act, is amended to 

6 read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(f) No advisory committee shall meet or take any 

8 action until an advisory committee charter has been filed 

9 with the Administrator, the head of the agency to whom 

10 any advisory committee reports, and the standing commit11 tees of the Senate and of the House of Representatives 

12 having legislative jurisdiction of such agency. Such charter 

13 shall contain the following information in the following 

14 order: 

15 ‘‘(1) The committee’s official designation. 

16 ‘‘(2) The authority under which the committee 

17 is established. 

18 ‘‘(3) The committee’s objectives and the scope 

19 of its activity. 

20 ‘‘(4) A description of the duties for which the 

21 committee is responsible, and, if such duties are not 

22 solely advisory, a specification of the authority for 

23 such functions. 

24 ‘‘(5) The agency or official to whom the com25 mittee reports. 
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1 ‘‘(6) The agency responsible for providing the 

2 necessary support for the committee. 

3 ‘‘(7) The responsibilities of the officer or em4 ployee of the Federal Government designated under 

5 section 10(e). 

6 ‘‘(8) The estimated number and frequency of 

7 committee meetings. 

8 ‘‘(9) The period of time necessary for the com9 mittee to carry out its purposes. 

10 ‘‘(10) The committee’s termination date, if less 

11 than 2 years from the date of the committee’s estab12 lishment. 

13 ‘‘(11) The estimated number of members and a 

14 description of the expertise needed to carry out the 

15 objectives of the committee. 

16 ‘‘(12) A description of whether the committee 

17 will be composed of full- or part-time Government 

18 employees, special Government employees, represent19 atives, or a combination of categories. 

20 ‘‘(13) Whether the agency intends to create 

21 subcommittees and if so, the agency official author22 ized to exercise such authority. 

23 ‘‘(14) The estimated annual operating costs in 

24 dollars and full-time equivalent positions for such 

25 committee. 
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1 ‘‘(15) The recordkeeping requirements of the 

2 committee. 

3 ‘‘(16) The date the charter is filed. 

4 A copy of any such charter shall also be furnished to the 

5 Library of Congress.’’. 

6 SEC. 5. MANAGING FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES. 

7 (a) COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT OFFICERS.—Sub8 section (c) of section 8 of the Federal Advisory Committee 

9 Act (5 U.S.C. App.), as redesignated by section 2(d) of 

10 this Act, is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(c) The head of each agency that has an advisory 

12 committee shall designate an Advisory Committee Man13 agement Officer who shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) be a senior official who is— 

15 ‘‘(A) an expert in implementing the re16 quirements of this Act and regulations promul17 gated pursuant to this Act; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the primary point of contact for the 

19 General Services Administration; 

20 ‘‘(2) ensure the establishment, management, 

21 and supervision of the advisory committees of the 

22 agency, including establishing procedures, perform23 ance measures, and outcomes for such committees; 

24 ‘‘(3) ensure the assembly and maintenance of 

25 the reports, records, and other papers (including ad-
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1 visory committee meeting materials) of any such 

2 committee during its existence; 

3 ‘‘(4) ensure any such committee and cor4 responding agency staff adhere to the provisions of 

5 this Act and any regulations promulgated pursuant 

6 to this Act; 

7 ‘‘(5) ensure the maintenance of records on each 

8 employee of any such committee and completion of 

9 training required for any such employee; 

10 ‘‘(6) be responsible for providing the informa11 tion required in section 7(b) of this Act to the Ad12 ministrator; and 

13 ‘‘(7) carry out, on behalf of that agency, the 

14 provisions of section 552 of title 5, United States 

15 Code, with respect to the reports, records, and other 

16 papers described in paragraph (3).’’. 

17 SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW AND REPORTS. 

18 (a) REVIEW.—The Comptroller General of the United 

19 States shall review compliance by agencies with the Fed20 eral Advisory Committee Act, as amended by this Act, in21 cluding whether agencies are appropriately appointing ad22 visory committee members who are not full-time or perma23 nent part-time officers or employees of the Federal Gov24 ernment as either special Government employees or rep25 resentatives. 
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1 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall submit 

2 to the committees described in subsection (c) two reports 

3 on the results of the review, as follows: 

4 (1) The first report shall be submitted not later 

5 than 1 year after the date of promulgation of regula6 tions under section 7(c) of the Federal Advisory 

7 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), as amended by sec8 tion 2(c). 

9 (2) The second report shall be submitted not 

10 later than 5 years after such date of promulgation 

11 of regulations. 

12 (c) COMMITTEES.—The committees described in this 

13 subsection are the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

14 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

15 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen16 ate. 

17 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

18 ACT TO TRADE ADVISORY COMMITTEES. 

19 Section 135(f)(2)(A) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 

20 U.S.C. 2155(f)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘sub21 sections (a) and (b) of sections 10 and 11 of the Federal 

22 Advisory Committee Act’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) 

23 and (b) of section 10 and subsections (a)(7), (a)(8), 

24 (a)(9), (b)(2), and (d) of section 11 of the Federal Advi25 sory Committee Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

2 Section 3 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

3 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(5) The term ‘special Government employee’ 

6 has the meaning given that term in section 202(a) 

7 of title 18, United States Code.’’. 

8 SEC. 9. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

9 Section 7(d)(1) of the Federal Advisory Committee 

10 Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 

11 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘the rate 

12 specified for GS–18 of the General Schedule under 

13 section 5332’’ and inserting ‘‘the rate for level IV of 

14 the Executive Schedule under section 5315’’; and 

15 (2) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking ‘‘handi16 capped individuals (within the meaning of section 

17 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

18 794))’’ and inserting ‘‘individuals with disabilities 

19 (as defined in section 7(20) of the Rehabilitation Act 

20 of 1973)’’. 

21 SEC. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

22 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

23 take effect 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act. 
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1 SEC. 11. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

2 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

3 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 

4 this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

5 amounts otherwise authorized. 

6 SEC. 12. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

7 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

8 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

9 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

10 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

11 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

12 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro13 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

14 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 12, 

2019. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1608 

AN ACT 

To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to 

committees, and for other purposes. increase the transparency of Federal advisory