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NCD Federal Advisory Committee Act Primer
The Federal
Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App. 2, which governs
the operations of NCD advisory committees, was enacted to promote
good government values such as openness, accountability and balance
of viewpoints consistent with administrative efficiency and cost-containment.
FACA requires that timely notice of each advisory
committee meeting be published in the Federal Register and that
other forms of public notice be used to inform interested persons
of the time, place, and agenda of the meeting. Advisory committee
meeting notices will appear in the Federal Register, on NCD's Web
site, and will be sent to NCD's e-mail listserve.
FACA also requires NCD advisory committees to permit
interested persons to attend its meetings/conference calls, to appear
before NCD advisory committees and to file written statements with
the committees, subject to reasonable regulations.
Notice of meetings of subgroups of the NCD advisory
committees, including, but not limited to, subcommittees, in which
the members thereof do not engage in ultimate decision-making relative
to advisory committee recommendations to the National Council on
Disability, is not required and public attendance and participation
is not mandatory.
Under FACA, NCD advisory committees are required to
keep detailed minutes, including a record of the persons present
at committee meetings and documents received, issued or approved
by committees. These documents and all other advisory committee
minutes, transcripts, reports, studies, etc. will be available for
public inspection and copying at the offices of each committee's
Designated Federal Official (DFO), National Council on Disability,
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850, Washington, DC. Selected documents
will also be available on the Internet at (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/advisory/advisory.htm).
Meetings of NCD advisory committees may be held only
when called by, or with the advance approval of the DFO with an
agenda approved by her/him. Each committee's DFO, an employee of
the National Council on Disability, must be present at each respective
advisory committee meeting and may adjourn such meeting if the public
interest requires. Any requests for information relative to the
applicability of FACA to NCD's advisory committees transactions
should be directed to the respective DFO.
NCD's chairperson and vice chairperson(s) are ex officio
members of all NCD advisory committees.
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