Congressional commissions are entities established by Congress to provide advice, make recommendations for changes in public policy, study or investigate a particular problem or event, or perform a spe cific duty. Generally, commissions may hold hearings, conduct research, analyze data, investigate policy areas, and/or make field visits as they perform their duties. Most commissions complete their work by delivering their findings, recommendations, or advice in the form of a written report to Congress. For example, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States was created to "examine and report upon the facts and causes relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001," and to "investigate and report to the President and Congress on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures that can be taken to prevent acts of terrorism," among other duties. The commission ultimately submitted a final report to Congress and the President containing its findings and conclusions, along with 48 policy recommendations. This report begins by examining the statutory lifecycle of congressional commissions, including common deadlines that define major milestones and mandate certain commission activities. Next, the report describes the language commonly found in commission legislation, including commission establishment, appointments, duties, powers, rules and procedures, staff, and funding. Specifically, this report provides illustrative examples of statutory language, discusses different approaches used in previous commission statutes, and analyzes possible advantages or disadvantages of different choices in commission design. This report focuses on congressional commissions created by statute and does not address entities created by the President or other nonstatutory advisory bodies. While no formal definition exists, for the purposes of this report a congressional commission is defined as a multimember independent entity that (1) is established by Congress, (2) exists temporarily, (3) serves in an advisory capacity, (4) is appointed in part or whole by Members of Congress, and (5) reports to Congress. This definition differentiates a congressional commission from a presidential commission, an executive branch commission, or other bodies with "commission" in their names, while including most entities that fulfill the role commonly associated with commissions: studying policy problems and reporting findings to Congress. This report analyzes statutory language used between the 101 st Congress (1989-1990) and the 115 th Congress (2017-2018) to establish congressional commissions. To identify commissions established during this time period, a Congress.gov database search was performed for enacted legislation between the 101 st Congress and the 115 th Congress. Each piece of legislation returned was examined to determine if (1) the legislation established a commission, and (2) the commission was a congressional commission as defined by the five criteria above. If the commission met the criteria, its name, public law number, Statutes-at-Large citation, and date of enactment were recorded. This approach identified 110 congressional commissions established by statute since 1989. A congressional commission is commonly provided a series of deadlines that define major milestones in its statutory lifecycle. The overall amount of time provided to a commission to complete its work may vary substantially depending on how deadlines are constructed. Although the number and type of deadlines provided to commissions may vary, statutory deadlines are commonly provided for the appointment of the commission members; the commission's first meeting; submission of any interim report(s) that may be required; submission of the commission's final work product(s); and commission termination. For example, Figure 1 visualizes the amount of time statutorily provided to a commission to complete its tasks. Using the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission as an example, Figure 1 shows the statutory deadlines for the appointment of commissioners, its first meeting, issuance of its final report, and termination. The amount of time provided for each of the above milestones is fairly typical of commission statutes. Commission statutes commonly contain a deadline by which appointments to the commission must be made. As shown in Figure 1 , for example, the statute establishing the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission provided 60 days from enactment for appointments to be made. For commissions established since the 101 st Congress, the amount of time provided for appointments has ranged from 30 days to 1 year. In most cases, appointments are required to be made within some period of time following enactment of legislation creating the commission. A smaller number of statutes tie appointment deadlines to the commission receiving appropriations. For example, appointments to the National Commission on Manufactured Housing were required to be made "not later than 60 days after funds are provided" for the commission. Regardless of whether the deadline is tied to the commission's enactment or the provision of funds, 60 days is the median amount of time provided for appointments for the 110 commissions analyzed here. Approximately half of commission statutes identified since the 101 st Congress direct that the commission's first meeting be held by a particular deadline. As displayed in Figure 1 , the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission was instructed to hold its initial meeting within 30 days of the appointment of a majority of its members. Similar to appointment deadlines, deadlines for initial meetings are commonly tied to another event. Most often, the first meeting is required to occur within some period of time following the appointment of commission members (either the appointment of all members, a majority of members, or some other number of members) . In such cases, the median amount of time provided has been 30 days from the appointment of members. Instead of linking a commission's first meeting to the appointment of commission members, several commissions have instead been directed to hold an initial meeting within some period of time following the commission's establishment. In these cases, the median amount of time provided to the commissions analyzed has been 90 days from establishment of the commission. Nearly all commission statutes include a deadline for the submission of a final report. The amount of time provided for final report submission varies substantially. Some commissions, such as the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, have been given less than six months to submit their final report to Congress. Other commissions, such as the Antitrust Modernization Commission, have been given three or more years to complete their work product. The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission was provided 15 months from its initial meeting to submit a final report, as shown in Figure 1 . For commissions identified since the 101 st Congress, the median amount of time provided to submit a final report is approximately 1.4 years, although this period of time may be measured from different starting points. Most commission statutes tied the deadline for final report submission to one of the following events: the date of the commission's first meeting; enactment of legislation creating the commission; appointment of commission members; or a specific calendar date. The overall length of time granted to a congressional commission for the completion of its final work product is arguably one of the most important decisions when designing a commission. If the commission is given a short amount of time, the quality of its work product may suffer or the commission may not be able to fulfill its statutory mandate. Policymakers may also wish to consider the amount of time necessary for "standing up" a new commission; the appointment of commission members, recruitment of staff, arrangement of office space, and other logistical matters may require six months or more from the date of enactment of commission legislation. On the other hand, longer deadlines may undercut one of the primary goals of a commission: the timely production of expert advice on a current policy matter. If legislators seek to create a commission to expeditiously address a pressing policy problem, a short deadline may be appropriate. Shorter deadlines may also reduce the overall cost of the commission. Congressional commissions are usually statutorily mandated to terminate. As with other statutory deadlines, termination dates for most commissions are usually linked to a fixed period of time after either the enactment of the commission statute, the selection of members, or the date of submission of the commission's final report. A smaller number of commission statutes establish a specific calendar date as the deadline for termination. As shown in Figure 1 , the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission was instructed to terminate 60 days after the submission of its final report. Statutory deadlines can help ensure that an activity is performed within a desired timeframe. However, the amount of time provided to a commission to perform any particular activity depends on how the particular deadline is established. While a deadline may be established to require a commission to perform some action by a particular calendar date, commission deadlines are more commonly tied to some other event in the commission's lifecycle, such as enactment, appointment of commissioners, or issuance of a final report. The decision to specify a particular calendar date as a deadline, or to instead tie the deadline to another event, can have a significant effect on the time provided to the commission to carry out its functions. For instance, legislation requiring a commission to produce a final report by a specific calendar date may ensure delivery of the report at a predictable time. However, the actual amount of time the commission will have to create the report will differ depending on a variety of factors, including the date the legislation is enacted, or the time needed to appoint commission members and hire commission staff. If a commission must submit a report by a specified calendar date, any delays (including in the enactment of the legislation, or "standing up" the commission) would have the practical effect of reducing the amount of time provided to the commission to perform its duties. Linking the final report deadline to a flexible date, such as the first meeting or the appointment of members, will often provide a more predictable amount of time for the commission to complete its work. Tying a commission's final report to a flexible date, however, may delay the actual calendar date of the submission of the final report. It may also reduce the incentive for the commission to take earlier steps, such as conducting an initial meeting, in an expeditious manner. Policymakers face a number of choices when designing a commission. Commission statutes frequently include sections that establish the commission and state its mandate; provide a membership structure and authority for making appointments; outline the commission's duties; grant the commission certain powers; define any rules of procedure; address hiring of commission staff; and prescribe how the commission will be funded.