§80r–3 Council

Summary

Creates the National Museum of African American History and Culture Council inside the Smithsonian. The Council must advise the Board of Regents on planning, design, construction, running, caring for, and preserving the Museum. It must recommend the Museum’s annual operating budgets, report yearly to the Board about acquiring, selling, or showing objects related to African American life, art, history, and culture, and write its own bylaws. Under the Board’s general policies, the Council has sole authority to add or remove artifacts for the Museum, as long as money from any sales is used to buy more items. It sets rules for using the collections and for programming, education, exhibits, and research about African American life, the role of African Americans in U.S. history from slavery to today, and their contributions to society. The Council also handles preservation and may accept gifts or bequests to help the Museum. It has 19 voting members: the Smithsonian Secretary, one Board of Regents member chosen by the Board, and 17 people the Board appoints while considering recommendations from relevant organizations and Council members. Initial appointments had to be made not later than 180 days after December 16, 2003. Appointed members serve 3-year terms, with the first 17 staggered as six 1-year, six 2-year, and five 3-year terms. Members may be reappointed but cannot serve more than two terms (partial terms filling vacancies don’t count). Vacancies are filled the same way. Members serve without pay but may receive travel expenses at rates authorized for an agency employee under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5. The Council elects a chair by majority. It meets when the chair calls it or if a majority asks in writing, but at least twice a year and at least four times in the first year after the first meeting. A majority of voting members is needed for a quorum.