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regularly attends and participates in committee meetings 
as if the individual were a member, even if the individual 
does not have the right to vote or veto the advice or rec-
ommendations of the advisory committee.’’. 
(b) INTERAGENCY ADVISORY COMMITTEES.—Section 
11 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 
App.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(f) INTERAGENCY
ADVISORY
COMMITTEES.—(1) 
Any communication between— 
‘‘(A) an interagency advisory committee estab-
lished by the President or the Vice President or any 
member or staff acting on behalf of such an inter-
agency advisory committee, and 
‘‘(B) any person who is not an officer or em-
ployee of the Federal Government, 
shall be made available for public inspection and 
copying. Any portion of a communication that in-
volves a matter described in section 552(b) of title 
5, United States Code, or that is subject to a valid 
constitutionally based privilege against such disclo-
sure, may be withheld from public disclosure. 
‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘interagency advi-
sory committee’ means any committee, board, commission, 
council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar 
group, or any subcommittee or other subgroup thereof, es-
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tablished in the interest of obtaining advice or rec-
ommendations for the President or the Vice President, 
that is composed wholly of full-time, or permanent part- 
time, officers or employees of the Federal Government and 
includes officers or employees of at least two separate Fed-
eral agencies but does not include an advisory committee 
as defined in section 3(2) of this Act. 
‘‘(3) This subsection is not intended to apply to cabi-
net meetings, the National Security Council, the Council 
of Economic Advisors, or any other permanent advisory 
body established by statute.’’. 
(c) SUBCOMMITTEES.—Section 4 of the Federal Ad-
visory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by 
striking subsection (a) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—The provisions of this Act or of 
any rule, order, or regulation promulgated under this Act 
shall apply to each advisory committee, including any sub-
committee or subgroup thereof, except to the extent that 
any Act of Congress establishing any such advisory com-
mittee specifically provides otherwise. Any subcommittee 
or subgroup that reports to a parent committee estab-
lished under section 9(a) is not required to comply with 
section 9(e). In this subsection, the term ‘subgroup’ in-
cludes any working group, task force, or other entity 
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formed for the purpose of assisting the committee or any 
subcommittee of the committee in its work.’’. 
(d) COMMITTEES CREATED UNDER CONTRACT.— 
Section 3(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 
U.S.C. App.) is amended in the matter following subpara-
graph (C) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An advi-
sory committee is considered to be established by an agen-
cy, agencies, or the President, if it is formed, created, or 
organized under contract, other transactional authority, 
cooperative agreement, grant, or otherwise at the request 
or direction of, an agency, agencies, or the President.’’. 
(e) ADVISORY COMMITTEES CONTAINING SPECIAL 
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Section 4 of the Federal Ad-
visory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is further amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(e) SPECIAL
GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES.—Com-
mittee members appointed as special government employ-
ees shall not be considered full-time or part-time officers 
or employees of the Federal Government for purposes of 
determining the applicability of this Act under section 
3(2).’’. 
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SEC. 4. INCREASING TRANSPARENCY OF ADVISORY COM-
MITTEES. 
(a) INFORMATION REQUIREMENT.—Section 11 of the 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) is 
amended— 
(1) by striking the section designation and 
heading and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 11. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.’’; 
(2) by redesignating subsection (a) as sub-
section (d) and in that subsection— 
(A) by inserting the following subsection 
heading: ‘‘AVAILABILITY OF PAPER COPIES OF 
TRANSCRIPTS.—’’; and 
(B) by inserting after ‘‘duplication,’’ the 
following: ‘‘paper’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘(e) AGEN-
CY PROCEEDING DEFINED.—’’; and 
(4) by inserting before subsection (d), as redes-
ignated by paragraph (2), the following new sub-
sections: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each advisory 
committee, the head of the agency to which the advisory 
committee reports shall make publicly available in accord-
ance with subsection (b) the following information: 
‘‘(1) The charter of the advisory committee. 
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‘‘(2) A description of the process used to estab-
lish and appoint the members of the advisory com-
mittee, including the following: 
‘‘(A) The process for identifying prospec-
tive members. 
‘‘(B) The process of selecting members for 
balance of viewpoints or expertise. 
‘‘(C) A justification of the need for rep-
resentative members, if any. 
‘‘(3) A list of all current members, including, 
for each member, the following: 
‘‘(A) The name of any person or entity 
that nominated the member. 
‘‘(B) The reason the member was ap-
pointed to the committee. 
‘‘(C) Whether the member is designated as 
a special government employee or a representa-
tive. 
‘‘(D) In the case of a representative, the 
individuals or entity whose viewpoint the mem-
ber represents. 
‘‘(E) Any conflict of interest relevant to 
the functions to be performed by the committee. 
‘‘(4) A list of all members designated as special 
government employees for whom written certifi-
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cations were made under section 208(b) of title 18, 
United States Code, a summary description of the 
conflict necessitating the certification, and the rea-
son for granting the certification. 
‘‘(5) A summary of the process used by the ad-
visory committee for making decisions. 
‘‘(6) Transcripts or audio or video recordings of 
all meetings of the committee. 
‘‘(7) Any written determination by the Presi-
dent or the head of the agency to which the advisory 
committee reports, pursuant to section 10(d), to 
close a meeting or any portion of a meeting and the 
reasons for such determination. 
‘‘(8) Notices of future meetings of the com-
mittee. 
‘‘(9) Any additional information considered rel-
evant by the head of the agency to which the advi-
sory committee reports. 
‘‘(b) MANNER OF DISCLOSURE.— 
‘‘(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
head of an agency shall make the information re-
quired to be disclosed under this section available 
electronically on the official public internet site of 
the agency at least 15 calendar days before each 
meeting of an advisory committee. If the head of the 
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agency determines that such timing is not prac-
ticable for any required information, he shall make 
the information available as soon as practicable but 
no later than 48 hours before the next meeting of 
the committee. An agency may withhold from disclo-
sure any information that would be exempt from dis-
closure under section 552 of title 5, United States 
Code. 
‘‘(2) The head of an agency shall make avail-
able electronically, on the official public internet site 
of the agency, a transcript or audio or video record-
ing of each advisory committee meeting not later 
than 30 calendar days after the meeting. 
‘‘(c) PROVISION
OF INFORMATION
BY ADMINIS-
TRATOR OF GENERAL SERVICES.—The Administrator of 
General Services shall provide, on the official public inter-
net site of the General Services Administration, electronic 
access to the information made available by each agency 
under this section.’’. 
(b) CHARTER FILING.—Section 9(e) of the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), as redesignated 
by section 2, is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘with (1) the Administrator,’’ 
and all that follows through ‘‘, or’’ and inserting 
‘‘(1) with the Administrator and’’; 
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(2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (I); 
(3) by striking the period and inserting a semi-
colon at the end of subparagraph (J); and 
(4) by adding at the end the following new sub-
paragraphs: 
‘‘(K) the authority under which the committee 
is established; 
‘‘(L) the estimated number of members and a 
description of the expertise needed to carry out the 
objectives of the committee; 
‘‘(M) a description of whether the committee 
will be composed of special government employees, 
representatives, or members from both categories; 
and 
‘‘(N) whether the committee has the authority 
to create subcommittees and if so, the agency official 
authorized to exercise such authority.’’. 
SEC. 5. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW AND REPORTS. 
(a) REVIEW.—The Comptroller General of the United 
States shall review compliance by agencies with the Fed-
eral Advisory Committee Act, as amended by this Act, in-
cluding whether agencies are appropriately appointing ad-
visory committee members as either special government 
employees or representatives. 
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(b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall submit 
to the committees described in subsection (c) two reports 
on the results of the review, as follows: 
(1) The first report shall be submitted not later 
than one year after the date of promulgation of reg-
ulations under section 2. 
(2) The second report shall be submitted not 
later than five years after such date of promulgation 
of regulations. 
(c) COMMITTEES.—The committees described in this 
subsection are the Committee on Oversight and Govern-
ment Reform of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-
fairs of the Senate. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 3 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 
U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraphs: 
‘‘(5) The term ‘representative’ means an indi-
vidual who is not a full-time or part-time employee 
of the Federal Government and who is appointed to 
an advisory committee to represent the views of an 
entity or entities outside the Federal Government. 
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‘‘(6) The term ‘special Government employee’ 
has the same meaning as in section 202(a) of title 
18, United States Code.’’. 
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act shall take effect 30 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, except as otherwise provided 
in section 2(c)(1). 
Passed the House of Representatives June 24, 2008. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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