Federal Advisory Committee Act FACA

Federal agencies have long sought advice from outside experts, industry representatives, and citizens, and by the early 1970s thousands of advisory bodies existed with little oversight, raising concerns that special interests had privileged, secret access to policymakers. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, signed by President Richard Nixon on October 6, 1972, set uniform rules for committees established or used by the President or agencies to obtain advice or recommendations that include members from outside the government.

Under the act, each committee must have a charter, renewed every two years, and its membership must be fairly balanced in the points of view represented. Meetings must generally be announced in the Federal Register and open to the public, with opportunities for public comment, and minutes and documents must be available, though parts of meetings may be closed under specified exemptions. The General Services Administration oversees compliance, and roughly 1,000 committees with tens of thousands of members operate at any time, advising on subjects from vaccines and drug approvals to science, trade, and national parks.

Courts have narrowed the act's reach. In Public Citizen v. Department of Justice in 1989 the Supreme Court held that the American Bar Association's committee rating judicial nominees was not covered, and litigation over Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy task force ended with rulings that it was not subject to the act because its members were federal officials. In 2025 the administration terminated a number of advisory committees and replaced the members of others, including a vaccine advisory panel, prompting debate. Supporters of the act say it keeps outside influence visible, while critics say its procedures discourage agencies from seeking advice at all.