{ "id": "R44248", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R44248", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 462216, "date": "2016-09-02", "retrieved": "2017-07-17T16:46:33.100630", "title": "The Federal Advisory Committee Act: Analysis of Operations and Costs", "summary": "Federal advisory committees are established to allow experts from outside the federal government to provide advice and recommendations to Congress, the President, or an executive branch agency. Federal advisory committees can be created either by Congress, the President, or an executive branch agency.\nThe Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires agencies to report on the structure, operations, and costs of qualifying federal advisory committees. The General Services Administration (GSA) is authorized to collect, retain, and review the reported information, and does so using an online tool called the FACA Database.\nGenerally, the data show that the number of active FACA committees has remained relatively stable over time, hovering around 1,000 committees in any given fiscal year. Around 70,000 people serve as members of FACA committees and subcommittees in any given year. \nThe Department of Health and Human Services consistently operates the greatest number of federal advisory committees, with 248 active committees in FY2015. The Department of Agriculture had the second greatest number of active committees in FY2015 with 163. In any given year, around half of the active FACA committees are established by statute. In FY2015, Congress established 20 new FACA committees by statute. \nCosts to operate federal advisory committees have varied over time and ranged from a low of $334.7 million in FY2014 to a high of $451.3 million in 2006. Federal advisory committee operating costs dropped from FY2010 to FY2014. In FY2015, however, costs to operate federal advisory committees rose 9.8% from FY2014 levels. The increase in costs from FY2014 to FY2015 coincides with increases in the number of members serving on federal advisory committees as well as the number of meetings held by those committees.\nIn FY2015, 1,009 federal advisory committees held 7,421 meetings with 72,200 members and cost more than $367 million to operate. \nThis report provides an in-depth examination of FACA committee operations and costs, using the data collected by GSA. The report also analyzes policy options that Congress can consider when deliberating current or future legislation to amend FACA, including clarifying FACA data reporting requirements, changing FACA committee member pay, and removing advisory committees that assist the grant making process from the FACA Database.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44248", "sha1": "20a2df11c488e1eb33533b107e4c9ea1379c7449", "filename": "files/20160902_R44248_20a2df11c488e1eb33533b107e4c9ea1379c7449.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44248", "sha1": "19423126e4b690437fd3a9acf6c719c15c98d0b5", "filename": "files/20160902_R44248_19423126e4b690437fd3a9acf6c719c15c98d0b5.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 446762, "date": "2015-10-27", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:05:19.948817", "title": "The Federal Advisory Committee Act: Analysis of Operations and Costs", "summary": "Federal advisory committees are established to allow experts from outside the federal government to provide advice and recommendations to executive branch agencies or the President. Federal advisory committees can be created either by Congress, the President, or an executive branch agency.\nThe Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires agencies to report on the structure, operations, and costs of qualifying federal advisory committees. The General Services Administration (GSA) is authorized to collect, retain, and verify the reported information, and does so using an online tool called the FACA Database.\nThis report provides an overview of the data that populates the FACA Database, which details the costs and operations of all active federal advisory committees. This report examines the data from FY2004-FY2014, with additional in-depth analysis of FY2014. \nGenerally, the data show that the number of active FACA committees has remained relatively stable over time, hovering around 1,000 committees in any given fiscal year. The Department of Health and Human Services consistently operates the most federal advisory committees, with 264 active committees in FY2014. The Department of Agriculture had the second most active committees in FY2014 with 166. In any given year, around half of the active FACA committees were required to be established by statute. In FY2014, Congress established 10 new FACA committees by statute. \nGenerally, around 70,000 people serve as members on FACA committees and subcommittees in any given year. In FY2014, 68,179 members served. In FY2014, 825 federal advisory committees held 7,173 meetings and cost more than $334 million to operate. \nThe report provides an in-depth examination of FACA committee operations, using the data collected by GSA. The report concludes by providing a list of policy options that Congress can consider when deliberating current or future legislation to amend FACA.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44248", "sha1": "bfb87903a14da4f8e5a30ff9adf5bd1039da4ff4", "filename": "files/20151027_R44248_bfb87903a14da4f8e5a30ff9adf5bd1039da4ff4.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44248", "sha1": "2eacb7eee39c059c58876e565d37a951e8dfc59c", "filename": "files/20151027_R44248_2eacb7eee39c059c58876e565d37a951e8dfc59c.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "American Law" ] }