I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1930 
To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to increase the transparency 
of Federal advisory committees, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 16, 2021 
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself and Mr. COMER) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and 
Means, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to increase 
the transparency of Federal advisory committees, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
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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 com-
mittees. 
Sec. 8. Definitions. 
Sec. 9. Technical and conforming amendments. 
Sec. 10. Effective date. 
Sec. 11. No additional funds authorized. 
SEC. 2. ENSURING INDEPENDENT ADVICE AND EXPERTISE. 
(a) BAR ON POLITICAL LITMUS TESTS.—Section 9 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) 
is amended— 
(1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘MEM-
BERSHIP;’’ after ‘‘ADVISORY COMMITTEES;’’; 
(2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(b) APPOINTMENTS MADE WITHOUT REGARD TO 
POLITICAL AFFILIATION OR ACTIVITY.—All appointments 
to advisory committees shall be made without regard to 
political affiliation or political campaign activity, unless re-
quired by Federal statute.’’. 
(b) MINIMIZING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—Section 
9 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), 
as amended by subsection (a) of this section, is further 
amended by inserting after subsection (b) (as added by 
such subsection (a)) the following: 
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‘‘(c) PUBLIC NOMINATIONS OF COMMITTEE MEM-
BERS.— 
‘‘(1) Before making an appointment to an advi-
sory committee, the head of an agency shall— 
‘‘(A) solicit nominations for potential com-
mittee members; 
‘‘(B) if the head of the agency is required 
to publish a notice under subsection (a)(2), in-
clude in the notice a solicitation for nomina-
tions of potential committee members; and 
‘‘(C) provide in the notice under subpara-
graph (B) a mechanism for interested persons 
to comment through a publicly available website 
of the agency. 
‘‘(2) The head of an agency shall consider any 
comments submitted in accordance with paragraph 
(1)(C) in appointing the members of an advisory 
committee. 
‘‘(3) The head of an agency shall solicit nomi-
nations under paragraph (1) not less frequently than 
once every 2 years. 
‘‘(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if a va-
cancy in an advisory committee occurs before the 
next scheduled solicitation for nominations under 
this subsection, an agency may appoint a member 
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from among individuals that were previously nomi-
nated to be a member of the advisory committee. 
‘‘(d) DESIGNATION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS.— 
‘‘(1) An individual appointed to an advisory 
committee who is not a full-time or permanent part- 
time officer or employee of the Federal Government 
shall be designated as— 
‘‘(A) a special Government employee, if the 
individual is providing advice based on the indi-
vidual’s expertise or experience; or 
‘‘(B) a representative, if the individual is 
representing the views of an entity or entities 
outside of the Federal Government. 
‘‘(2) An agency may not designate committee 
members as representatives to avoid subjecting them 
to Federal ethics rules and requirements. 
‘‘(3) The designated agency ethics official for 
each agency shall review the members of each advi-
sory committee that reports to the agency to deter-
mine whether each member’s designation is appro-
priate, and to redesignate members if appropriate. 
The designated agency ethics official shall certify to 
the head of the agency that such review has been 
made— 
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