To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to establish public disclosure requirements for working groups of advisory committees.

November 28, 2001

Mr. WAXMAN (for himself, Mr. MATSUI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. OWENS, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. POMEROY, and Mr. BECERRA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to establish public disclosure requirements for working groups of advisory committees.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORKING GROUPS.

(a) WORKING GROUP DEFINED- Section 3 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 App. U.S.C.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(5) The term `working group' means any committee, board, commission, council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar group, or any subcommittee or other subgroup thereof, that is established or utilized by an advisory committee to--

`(A) gather information, develop work plans, perform studies, draft reports, or discuss preliminary findings with agency employees; or

`(B) conduct deliberations, prepare reports, or make recommendations to the advisory committee.'.

(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR WORKING GROUPS- The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 App. U.S.C.) is amended by striking section 16 and inserting the following:

`TREATMENT OF WORKING GROUPS

`SEC. 16. (a) NOTICE OF ESTABLISHMENT OR UTILIZATION- An advisory committee shall publish notice of the establishment or utilization of any working group by the advisory committee, by not later than 15 days after the date of that establishment or utilization, respectively.

`(b) PROCEDURES; AVAILABILITY OF TRANSCRIPTS- A working group shall be treated as an advisory committee for purposes of sections 10 and 11.'.

END