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Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-110

§2511 Peace Corps National Advisory Council

Title 22 › CHAPTER 34 — THE PEACE CORPS › § 2511

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a Peace Corps National Advisory Council to give advice to the President and the Director of the Peace Corps. The Council must review Peace Corps policies and programs, visit Peace Corps operations in the United States and other countries, evaluate results and future roles, and make recommendations to guide the agency and, when appropriate, to Congress. The Council may include the public in its work. The Council has 15 voting members appointed by the President with Senate approval. At least 7 must be former Peace Corps volunteers and no more than 8 can be from the same political party. Appointments had to begin no later than 60 days after August 8, 1985; initially eight members serve 1-year terms and seven serve 2-year terms, and after that all appointments are for 2 years. Members may not be federal officers or employees, may serve no more than two consecutive 2-year terms, and serve at the President’s pleasure. A nine-member vote can remove an appointed member for misconduct, neglect, or serious moral wrongdoing. The President must nominate a replacement within 30 days of a vacancy. The Secretary of State, the USAID Administrator (or their designees), and the Peace Corps Director and Deputy Director are nonvoting, ex officio members. Non-federal members are paid a daily rate equal to the highest rate under section 5332 of title 5 for actual days worked, with travel and per diem under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, but no more than 20 paid days per year. A majority of voting members is a quorum. Members must disclose any financial interest in matters before the Council and must not take part in those matters. The Council elects a U.S. citizen Chair and Vice Chair at its first and yearly meetings; they cannot both be from the same party. The Council must meet at least once each quarter, set bylaws, report to the President and Director by January 1, 1988 and every two years after that, and the President must send each report to Congress within 90 days with any comments. The Peace Corps Director must provide staff and support.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §2511

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Establishment
A Peace Corps National Advisory Council (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Council”) shall be established in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(b)Functions
(1)The Council shall advise and consult with the President and the Director of the Peace Corps with regard to policies and programs designed to further the purposes of this chapter and shall, as the Council considers appropriate, periodically report to the Congress with regard to the Peace Corps.
(2)Members of the Council shall (subject to subsection (d)(1)) conduct on-site inspections, and make examinations, of the activities of the Peace Corps in the United States and in other countries in order to—
(A)evaluate the accomplishments of the Peace Corps;
(B)assess the potential capabilities and the future role of the Peace Corps;
(C)make recommendations to the President, the Director of the Peace Corps, and, as the Council considers appropriate, the Congress, for the purpose of guiding the future direction of the Peace Corps and of helping to ensure that the purposes and programs of the Peace Corps are carried out in ways that are economical, efficient, responsive to changing needs in developing countries and to changing relationships among people, and in accordance with law; and
(D)make such other evaluations, assessments, and recommendations as the Council considers appropriate.
(3)The Council may provide for public participation in its activities.
(c)Membership
(1)Persons appointed as members of the Council shall be broadly representative of the general public, including educational institutions, private volunteer agencies, private industry, farm organizations, labor unions, different regions of the United States, different educational, economic, racial, and national backgrounds and age groupings, and both sexes.
(2)(A)The Council shall consist of fifteen voting members who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. At least seven of such members shall be former Peace Corps volunteers, and not more than eight of such members shall be members of the same political party.
(B)The first appointments of members of the Council under this paragraph shall be made not more than sixty days after August 8, 1985, and, solely for purposes of determining the expiration of their terms, shall be deemed to take effect on the sixtieth day after August 8, 1985.
(C)No member appointed under this paragraph may be an officer or employee of the United States Government.
(D)Of the members initially appointed under this paragraph, eight shall be appointed to 1-year terms and seven shall be appointed to 2-year terms. Thereafter, all appointed members shall be appointed to 2-year terms.
(E)A member of the Council appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of that term.
(F)No member of the Council may serve for more than two consecutive 2-year terms.
(G)Members of the Council shall serve at the pleasure of the President.
(H)An appointed member of the Council may be removed by a vote of nine members for malfeasance in office, for persistent neglect of or inability to discharge duties, or for offenses involving moral turpitude, and for no other cause.
(I)Within thirty days after any vacancy occurs in the office of an appointed member of the Council, the President shall nominate an individual to fill the vacancy.
(3)In addition to the voting members of the Council, the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the Agency for International Development, or their designees, and the Director and Deputy Director of the Peace Corps, shall be non-voting members, ex officio, of the Council.
(d)Compensation
(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), a member of the Council who is not an officer or employee of the United States Government—
(A)shall be paid compensation out of funds made available for the purposes of this chapter at the daily equivalent of the highest rate payable under section 5332 of title 5 for each day (including travel time) during which the member is engaged in the actual performance of duties as a Council member, and
(B)while away from his or her home or regular place of business on necessary travel, as determined by the Director of the Peace Corps, in the actual performance of duties as a Council member, shall be paid per diem, travel, and transportation expenses in the same manner as is provided under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5.
(2)A member of the Council may not be paid compensation under paragraph (1)(A) for more than twenty days in any calendar year.
(e)Quorum
A majority of the voting members of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the purposes of transacting any business.
(f)Financial interests of members
A member of the Council shall disclose to the Council the existence of any direct or indirect financial interest of that member in any particular matter before the Council and may not vote or otherwise participate as a Council member with respect to that particular matter.
(g)Chair and Vice Chair
At its first meeting and at its first regular meeting in each calendar year thereafter, the Council shall elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its appointed members who are citizens of the United States. The Chair and Vice Chair may not both be members of the same political party.
(h)Meetings, bylaws, and regulations
(1)The Council shall hold a regular meeting during each calendar quarter and shall meet at the call of the President, the Director of the Peace Corps, the Council’s Chair, or one-fourth of its members.
(2)The Council shall prescribe such bylaws and regulations as it considers necessary to carry out its functions. Such bylaws and regulations shall include procedures for fixing the time and place of meetings, giving or waiving of notice of meetings, and keeping of minutes of meetings.
(i)Reports to the President and the Director (j) Administrative assistance
Not later than January 1, 1988, and not later than January 1 of each second year thereafter, the Council shall submit to the President and the Director of the Peace Corps a report on its views on the programs and activities of the Peace Corps. Each report shall contain a summary of the advice and recommendations provided by the Council to the President and the Director during the period covered by the report and such recommendations (including recommendations for administrative or legislative action) as the Council considers appropriate to make to the Congress. Within ninety days after receiving each such report, the President shall submit to the Congress a copy of the report, together with any comments concerning the report that the President or the Director considers appropriate.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (b)(1) and (d)(1)(A), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 87–293, Sept. 22, 1961, 75 Stat. 612, known as the Peace Corps Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2501 of this title and Tables.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 2511, Pub. L. 87–293, title I, § 12, Sept. 22, 1961, 75 Stat. 619, established Peace Corps National Advisory Council and set forth its composition, functions, and terms of members, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 92–352, title IV, § 403,
July 13, 1972, 86 Stat. 495, effective 90 days after
July 13, 1972.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1985, see section 1301 of Pub. L. 99–83, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1985 Amendment note under section 2151–1 of this title. Termination of Reporting RequirementsFor termination, effective May 15, 2000, of provisions in subsec. (i) of this section relating to requirement that the President submit to Congress a copy of each report received under subsec. (i), see section 3003 of Pub. L. 104–66, as amended, set out as a note under section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance, and page 14 of House Document No. 103–7. Termination of Advisory CouncilsAdvisory councils established after Jan. 5, 1973, to terminate not later than the expiration of the 2-year period beginning on the date of their establishment, unless, in the case of a council established by the President or an officer of the Federal Government, such council is renewed by appropriate action prior to the expiration of such 2-year period, or in the case of a council established by the Congress, its duration is otherwise provided for by law. See section 1001(2) and 1013 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Termination of Similar Advisory Body Pub. L. 99–83, title XI, § 1104(b), Aug. 8, 1985, 99 Stat. 275, provided that: “Any advisory body carrying out functions similar to those assigned to the Peace Corps National Advisory Council provided for in subsection (a) [enacting this section] shall cease to exist sixty days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 8, 1985].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 2511

Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110