21

1 ately below item 133C, as added by section 101 (c) of this

2 Act, the following:

3

"133D. Open joint and conference committee meetings.".

SEC. 104. EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.-The

4 provisions of this title are enacted by the Congress

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, and as such they shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of that House to which they specifically apply, and such rules shall supersede

other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change such rules (so far as relating to such House) at any time, in the same manner, and to

the same extent as in the case of any other rule of such House.

TITLE II-AGENCY PROCEDURES

SEC. 201. (a) This section applies, according to the 19 provisions thereof, to any agency, as defined in section 551 20 (1) of title 5, United States Code, where the body compris21 ing the agency consists of two or more members. Except as 22 provided in subsection (b), all meetings (including meetings

23

23

to conduct hearings) of such agencies, or a subdivision there

24 of authorized to take action on behalf of the agency, shall be

22

1 open to the public. For purposes of this section, a meeting 2 consists of any procedure by which official agency business is 3 considered or discussed by at least the number of agency 4 members (or of members of a subdivision of the agency au5 thorized to take action on behalf of the agency), required to 6 take action on behalf of the

agency.

7 (b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to any portion or 8 portions of an agency meeting where the agency determines 9 by a vote of a majority of its entire membership, or, in the 10 case of a subdivision thereof authorized to take action on 11 behalf of the agency, a majority of the membership of such 12 subdivision, that such portion or portions of the meeting(1) will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret

13

in the interests of national defense or the necessarily confidential conduct of the foreign policy of the United States;

(2) will relate solely to individual agency personnel or to internal agency office management and administration or financial auditing;

(3) will tend to charge with crime or misconduct,

or to disgrace any person, or will represent a clearly

unwarranted invasion of the privacy of any individual:

23 Provided, That this paragraph shall not apply to any

Government officer or employee with respect to his offi

cial duties or employment: And provided further, That

23

as applied to a witness at a meeting this paragraph shall not apply unless the witness requests in writing that the

meeting be closed to the public;

(4) will disclose information pertaining to any investigation conducted for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the disclosure would (A) interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (D) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, (E) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel; or (F) in the case of an agency authorized to regulate the issuance or trading of securities, disclose information concerning such securities, or the markets in which they are traded, when such information must be kept confidential in order to avoid premature speculation in

the trading of such securities; or

(5) will disclose information relating to the trade secrets or financial or commercial information pertain

ing specifically to a given person where

1

2

3

4

5

7

8

9

10

11

121

13

14

15

16

17

24

(A) a Federal statute requires the information to be kept confidential by Government officers and

employees; or

(B) the information has been obtained by the Federal Government on a confidential basis other than through an application by such person for a specific Government financial or other benefit and the information must be kept secret in order to prevent grave and irreparable injury to the competitive position of such person;

(6) will relate to the conduct or disposition (but not the initiation) of a case of adjudication governed by

the provisions of the first paragraph of section 554 (a)

of title 5, United States Code, or of subsection (1), (2), (4), (5), or (6) thereof.

A separate vote of the agency members, or the members of

a subdivision thereof authorized to take action on behalf of 18 the agency, shall be taken with respect to each agency 19 meeting a portion or portions of which are proposed to 20 be closed to the public pursuant to this subsection. The vote of each agency member participating in such vote shall be

21

22 8

23

recorded and no proxies shall be allowed. Within one day of

such vote, the agency shall make publicly available a written 24 copy of such vote and, if a meeting or portion thereof is closed

25 to the public, a full written explanation of its action.

80-459 O-77-9

25

1 (c) Each agency shall make public announcement of 2 the date, place, and subject matter of each meeting, and 3 whether open or closed to the public, at least one week before

4

each meeting. Such announcement shall be made unless the

5 agency determines by a vote of the majority of its members,

6

or in the case of a subdivision thereof authorized to take 7 action on behalf of the agency, a majority of the members of 8 the subdivision, that agency business requires that such meet9 ings be called at an earlier date, in which case the agency 10 shall make public announcement of the date, place, and sub11 ject matter of such meeting, and whether open or closed to 12 the public, at the earliest practicable opportunity.

13

14

15

(d) A complete transcript or electronic recording adequate to fully record the proceedings shall be made of each meeting of each agency (whether open or closed to the pub16 lic). Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section a 17 copy of the transcript or electronic recording of each such 18 meeting, together with any official minutes of such meeting, 19 shall be made available to the public for inspection, and 20 additional copies of any such transcript, minutes, or record21 ing (or a copy of a transcription of the electronic recording), 22 shall be furnished to any person at the actual cost of duplica23 tion or transcription. Notwithstanding the provisions of sub24 section (e), in the case of meetings closed to the public, 25 the portion of such transcript made available for public inspection or electronic recording shall include a list

26