View source for Federal Advisory Committee Act

{{Short description|1972 American legislation}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle = Federal Advisory Committee Act
| longtitle = <!--Starts "An act to..."-->An act to authorize the establishment of a system governing the creation and operation of advisory committees in the executive branch of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.
| nickname = 
| acronym = FACA
| enacted by = 92nd<!--Name of Congress. (e.g. 1st, 10th, 100th). Auto-links to corresponding page. Adding other characters breaks the link-->
| effective date = 
| number of co-sponsors = 
| cite public law = {{USPL|92|463}}
| cite statutes at large = {{USStat|86|770}}
| agenciesaffected = 
| acts amended = 
| acts repealed = 
| title amended = 
| sections created = <!--{{USC}} can be used-->
| sections amended = 
| leghisturl = https://www.congress.gov/bill/92nd-congress/house-bill/4383
| introducedin = House<!--House or Senate-->
| introducedbill = {{USBill|92|HR|4383}}
| introducedby = 
| introduceddate = February 17, 1971
| committees = House - Government Operations
| passedbody1 = House
| passeddate1 = May 9, 1972
| passedvote1 = 
| passedbody2 = Senate
| passedas2 = 
| passeddate2 = September 12, 1972
| passedvote2 =
| signedpresident = [[Richard Nixon]]
| signeddate = October 6, 1972
}}
The '''Federal Advisory Committee Act''' ('''FACA''') ({{USStatute|92|463|86|770|1972|10|6}}), is a [[United States federal law]] which governs the behavior of federal advisory committees. In particular, it has special emphasis on open meetings, [[Project charter|chartering]], public involvement, and reporting.<ref>{{cite web |last=Committee Management Secretariat |title=The Federal Advisory Committee Act |url=http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/100916|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803105026/http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/100916|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 3, 2010 |work=Federal Advisory Committee Management - Legislation and Regulations |publisher=U.S. General Services Administration |access-date=July 20, 2012 |date=June 15, 2012}}</ref>

The U.S. [[General Services Administration]] (GSA) oversees the process.{{citation needed (lead)|date=November 2024}}

==Overview==

===Advisory committees===
The Federal Advisory Committee Act defines ''advisory committee'' as "any committee, board, commission, council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar group" that dispenses "advice or recommendations" to the President of the United States, and excludes bodies that also exercise operational functions.<ref>{{cite book |title=Federal Advisory Committee Act 3(2), 9(b) |year=1972 |publisher=U.S. House of Representatives |url=http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/ogp/without_annotations_R2G-b4T_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf|access-date=July 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916205929/http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/ogp/without_annotations_R2G-b4T_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf|archive-date=September 16, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> They are provisional bodies and have the advantage of being able to circumvent bureaucracy and collect a range of opinions.

Committees composed of full-time officers or employees of the federal government do not count as ''advisory committees'' under FACA. Furthermore, the following organizations are also not governed by FACA: the [[U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations|Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations]], the [[Commission on Government Procurement]], the [[National Academy of Sciences]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], the [[Federal Reserve]], and the [[National Academy of Public Administration (United States)|National Academy of Public Administration]].<ref name=rcfp>{{cite web |title=The Federal Advisory Committee Act |url=http://www.rcfp.org/federal-open-government-guide/federal-open-meetings-laws/federal-advisory-committee-act |work=Media Law Resources - Federal Open Government Guide |publisher=Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press|access-date=July 20, 2012}}</ref>

===Purpose===
In drafting FACA, legislators wanted to ensure that advice by the various advisory committees is "objective and accessible to the public" by formalizing the process for "establishing, operating, overseeing, and terminating" the committees.{{cn|date=November 2024}} 
The Committee Management Secretariat at the GSA is charged with monitoring compliance.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

In particular the Act restricts the formation of such committees to only those which are deemed essential, limits their powers to provision of advice to officers and agencies in the [[executive branch]] of the Federal Government, and limits the length of term during which any such committee may operate. Further, FACA was an attempt by Congress to curtail the rampant "locker-room discussion" that had become prevalent in administrative decisions. These "locker-room discussion" are masked under titles like "task force", "subcommittee", and "working group" meetings, which are less than full FACA meetings and so they do not have to be open to the public. FACA declared that all administrative procedures and hearings were to be public knowledge.<ref>http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/federal_advisory_committees.html{{full citation needed|date=December 2017}}</ref>

==Legal requirements==

===Public notice===
A committee must provide public notice in the ''[[Federal Register]]'' 15 days prior to the meeting.{{which|date=November 2024}} It must publish all information regarding the meeting, including committee name, the time, place, and purpose of the meeting, and a summary of the agenda. Additionally, if any part of the meeting is closed to the public, the notice must include the committee name; the time, place and purpose of the meeting; a summary of the agenda; and if any portion of the meeting is closed, the reason and exemption(s) in the Government in the Sunshine Act that apply. An advisory committee meeting can be closed to the public if the president or an agency head determines that any of the 10 exemptions to the Sunshine Act apply (see below).
The committee must provide access to materials provided to it, including reports, transcripts, minutes, working papers, agendas or other documents unless any of the nine FOIA exemptions would apply. The committees must also keep minutes of their meetings.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

==Amendments==
In March 2012 the Government Accountability Office issued a report on FACA groups in DOT and DOE. In this report, they state:

"Advisory groups—those established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and other groups not subject to the act—can play an important role in the development of policy and government regulations. There are more than 1,000 FACA advisory groups and an unknown number of non-FACA advisory groups governmentwide. Non-FACA groups include intergovernmental groups. Section 21 of Pub. L. No. 111-139 requires GAO to conduct routine investigations to identify programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and activities. In that context, GAO reviewed (1) the extent to which the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) and Department of Energy’s (DOE) assessment process helps ensure advisory group efforts are not duplicative and what challenges, if any, exist in assessing potential duplication, and (2) to what extent DOT and DOE advisory groups are useful in assisting their respective agencies in carrying out their missions and how the groups’ usefulness could be enhanced."<ref name="gao-12-472">{{cite web |title=Federal Advisory Groups: DOT and DOE Can Take Steps to Better Assess Duplication Risk and Enhance Usefulness |url=https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-12-472 |website=www.gao.gov |publisher=U. S. Government Accountability Office |access-date=February 2, 2022 |language=en |date=March 29, 2012}}</ref> This review resulted in four recommendations geared toward preventing duplication of efforts among FACA groups.<ref name="gao-12-472" />

==Criticism==
FACA has drawn criticism as an unconstitutional infringement upon "long-recognized presidential powers" reserved to the President under [[Article Two of the United States Constitution|Article II]] of the [[U.S. Constitution]]. Critics maintain that FACA "violates [[separation of powers]] by limiting the terms on which the President can acquire information from nongovernmental advisory committees".<ref name=bybee>{{cite journal |last=Bybee |first=Jay S. |title=Advising the President: Separation of Powers and the Federal Advisory Committee Act |journal=Yale Law Journal |date=January 1, 1994 |volume=104 |issue=5 |pages=51–125 |doi=10.2307/796984 |jstor=796984 |url=http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1355&context=facpub|access-date=July 20, 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Government in the Sunshine Act]] (1976)
* [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)]] (1966)
* [[Open-source governance]]

== Further reading ==

* Ar<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Secrecy+in+the+Sunshine+Era%3A+The+Promise+and+Failures+of+U.S.+Open+Government+Laws&rft.pub=University+Press+of+Kansas&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=978-0700619924&rft.aulast=Arnold&rft.aufirst=Jason+Ross&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fisbn_9780700619924&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AAgent+Orange" class="Z3988"></span>nold, Jason Ross (2014). ''Secrecy in the Sunshine Era: The Promise and Failures of U.S. Open Government Laws''. University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN|978-0700619924}}. See chapter 4.

==References==
{{Wikisource}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/part-I/chapter-10 Chapter 10 of title 5] of the [[United States Code]] from the [[Legal Information Institute|LII]]
* [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title5/part1/chapter10&edition=prelim Chapter 10 of title 5] of the United States Code from the [[United States House of Representatives|US House of Representatives]]
* [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-13999/uslm/COMPS-13999.xml Federal Advisory Committee Act] as amended ([https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-13999/pdf/COMPS-13999.pdf PDF]/[https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/COMPS-13999 details]) in the [[United States Government Publishing Office|GPO]] [https://www.govinfo.gov/help/comps Statute Compilations collection]
* [http://facadatabase.gov/ FACA Database] allows [http://facadatabase.gov/rpt/search.asp search of Committees by agency, Committee name, number, or interest area] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001201340/http://www.facadatabase.gov/rpt/search.asp |date=October 1, 2013 }} and [http://facadatabase.gov/rpt/memberssearch.asp search of Committee members by member characteristics or agency] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202081629/http://facadatabase.gov/rpt/memberssearch.asp |date=December 2, 2016 }}. Updated in real time. Current and historic datasets available for download. 
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130926064434/http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/laws/fed-advisory-committee/ Federal Register]
*[http://www.epic.org/open_gov/faca.html Federal Advisory Committee Act]
*[https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/policy/federal-advisory-committee-management Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) Management Overview] (GSA)
*[http://gao.gov/products/GAO-12-472 GAO Report 12-472]. Federal Advisory Groups: DOT and DOE Can Take Steps to Better Assess Duplication Risk and Enhance Usefulness. 2012.

{{Richard Nixon}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1972 in American law]]
[[Category:United States federal government administration legislation|Advisory Committee]]