Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act

Summary

Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act This bill revises provisions regarding federal advisory committees, including to (1) require designation of committee members as special government employees or representatives, (2) apply the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to subcommittees and subgroups, and (3) require publication of certain information about advisory committees. The bill requires appointments to advisory committees to be made without regard to political affiliation or campaign activity, unless required by federal statute. Each agency, prior to appointing members to an advisory committee, must solicit nominations for potential committee members. The agency shall solicit nominations at least once every two years. The bill provides statutory authority for the designation of advisory committee members as special government employees (if they are appointed to exercise their individual best judgement) or representatives (if they are appointed to represent a nongovernment entity). Agencies may not designate committee members as representatives to avoid federal ethics rules. Each agency shall make available on its website specified information about each of the agency's advisory committees, including membership, meeting minutes, and notices of future meetings. The General Services Administration must also publish this information. The bill revises requirements for Advisory Committee Management Officers, including to require them to be senior officials with expertise in implementing FACA. The Government Accountability Office shall report on agency compliance with FACA.

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Timeline

1. 17 March 2021

   Introduced

   Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 17 March 2021

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Introduced in Senate · 17 March 2021 · Official file

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 17 March 2021

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 17 March 2021

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 17 March 2021

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Sen. Portman, Rob [R-OH] · R · Sponsor
• Maggie Hassan · D · Sponsor
• · ssga00 · Standing

Related records

• related to ← Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act
• related to ← Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2019