Title 20EducationRelease 119-73

§44 Organization of board; expenses; gratuitous services

Title 20 › Chapter CHAPTER 3— - SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, NATIONAL MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - CHARTER PROVISIONS › § 44

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Board of Regents must meet in Washington, D.C., pick one member as chancellor to lead meetings, and appoint a Secretary who also acts as the board’s secretary. They must choose three members for an executive committee and set regular meeting times. If any three regents ask, the Secretary must call a special meeting and mail notice to each member. Eight members make a quorum. Regents do not get paid for serving, but they are reimbursed for necessary travel and actual meeting expenses; the executive committee checks those expenses and the Secretary records them.

Full Legal Text

Title 20, §44

Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Board of Regents shall meet in the city of Washington and elect one of their number as chancellor, who shall be the presiding officer of the Board of Regents, and called the chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, and a suitable person as Secretary of the institution, who shall also be the secretary of the Board of Regents. The board shall also elect three of their own body as an executive committee, and shall fix the time for the regular meetings of the board; and, on application of any three of the regents to the Secretary of the institution, it shall be his duty to appoint a special meeting of the Board of Regents, of which he shall give notice, by letter, to each of the members; and, at any meeting of the board, eight shall constitute a quorum to do business. Each member of the board shall be paid his necessary traveling and other actual expenses, in attending meetings of the board, which shall be audited by the executive committee, and recorded by the Secretary of the board; but his service as regent shall be gratuitous.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification R.S. § 5582 derived from act Aug. 10, 1846, ch. 178, § 3, 9 Stat. 103.

Amendments

1970—Pub. L. 91–551 increased number of members required to constitute a quorum from five to eight.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

20 U.S.C. § 44

Title 20Education

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73