§ 105-54.305 Renewal of advisory committees.

(a) Each advisory committee being continued is renewed for successive 2-year periods beginning with the date when it was established according to the following, except for statutory advisory committees: (For renewal of statutory advisory committees, see paragraph (b) of this section.) (1) Advisory committees are not renewed unless there is a compelling need for them, they have balanced membership, and they conduct their business as openly as possible under the law. (2) The renewal of a committee requires that the responsible HSSO submit to the GSA Committee Management Officer the following: (i) An updated charter with an explanation of the need for the renewal of the committee. The charter and explanation are furnished 60 calendar days before the 2-year anniversary date of the committee.); (ii) A letter signed by the HSSO to the Director, Committee Management Secretariat, with information copies to the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator, setting forth: (A) An explanation of why the committee is essential to the conduct of agency business and is in the public interest; (B) GSA's plan to attain balanced membership of the committee; and (C) An explanation of why the committee's functions cannot be performed by GSA, another existing GSA advisory committee, or other means such as a public hearing; (iii) A notice for publication in the Federal Register describing the nature and purpose of the committee and containing a certification by the Administrator that renewing the advisory committee is in the public interest. (3) On receiving the above documents, the GSA Committee Management Officer submits the renewal letter to the Committee Management Secretariat not more than 60 calendar days nor less than 30 days before the committee expires. Following receipt of the Committee Management Secretariat's views on the committee renewal, the Officer obtains the Administrator's approval of the charter and the Federal Register notice. The Officer publishes notice of the renewal in the Federal Register and files copies of the updated charter. The 15-day notice requirement does not apply to committee renewals, notices of which may be published concurrently with the filing of the charter. (b) Each statutory advisory committee is renewed by the filing of a renewal charter upon the expiration of each successive 2-year period following the date of enactment of the statute establishing the committee according to the following: (1) The procedures in paragraph (a)(2) of this section apply to the renewal of a statutory committee except that neither prior consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat nor a Federal Register notice is required. Accordingly, the letter that paragraph a(2)(ii) requires is sent to the Administrator rather than the Committee Management Secretariat. Due to the nature of a committee the law established, the explanation of the need to continue the committee's existence is less extensive than the explanation for the continuation of a non-statutory committee; and (2) The GSA Committee Management Officer provides the Committee Management Secretariat with a copy of the filed charter. (c) An advisory committee required to file a new charter may not take any action other than preparing the charter between the date it is to be filed and the date it is actually filed.