Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Open and Transparent Smithsonian Act of 2016”.
Open and Transparent Smithsonian Act of 2016
A BILL
To amend the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee Act to apply the requirements of such Acts to the Smithsonian Institution, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Application of open government laws to Smithsonian Institution
Freedom of Information Act— Section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), as amended by section 2(7) of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(n) For purposes of this section, the Smithsonian Institution shall be considered an agency, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution shall be considered the head of the agency.”
Privacy Act— Section 552a(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Privacy Act), is amended by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting “, except that such term also includes the Smithsonian Institution;”.
Requiring Open Meetings— Section 552b(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code (relating to open meetings) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting “, except that such term also includes the Smithsonian Institution;”.
Sec. 3 Effective date and application
Effective Date— This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
Application—
Freedom of Information Act; Privacy Act— Subsections (a) and (b) of section 2 and the amendments made by such subsections shall apply to any record created before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Open meetings— Subsection (c) of section 2 and the amendments made by such subsection shall apply to any meeting held on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.