Special Advisors for Insular Areas Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5001 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5001

 To establish a position of Special Advisor for Insular Areas in each 
             Executive department, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2023

 Mr. Grijalva (for himself, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Moylan, and 
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a position of Special Advisor for Insular Areas in each 
             Executive department, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Special Advisors for Insular Areas 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SPECIAL ADVISOR FOR INSULAR AREAS.

    (a) Establishment.--There shall be a Special Advisor for Insular 
Areas in each Executive department, who shall be an officer of the 
Executive department.
    (b) Appointments.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the head of each Executive department shall 
appoint a Special Advisor for Insular Areas for the applicable 
Executive department. If a vacancy occurs after an initial appointment, 
the applicable head shall appoint a new Special Advisor for Insular 
Areas not later than 3 months after the date that the vacancy occurs.
    (c) Duties.--The Special Advisor for Insular Areas for each 
Executive department shall--
            (1) serve as the principal advisor to the head of the 
        applicable Executive department on matters affecting insular 
        areas;
            (2) assess the impact of departmental initiatives in the 
        insular areas;
            (3) provide guidance to programs within the Executive 
        department that impact insular areas;
            (4) serve as a liaison for stakeholders from the insular 
        areas; and
            (5) work with the Interagency Group on Insular Areas 
        established by Executive Order 13537 or any successor group 
        within the Department of the Interior.

SEC. 3. INTERDEPARTMENTAL MEETINGS.

    (a) In General.--The Special Advisor for Insular Areas for each 
Executive department (or their designees) and the Assistant Secretary 
for Insular and International Affairs (or their designee) shall meet 
not less than once every 3 months to address major policy matters and 
initiatives affecting the insular areas.
    (b) Record of Meetings.--A record of each meeting shall be taken by 
an employee of and maintained by the Department of the Interior Office 
of Insular Affairs.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Executive department.--The term ``Executive 
        department'' has the meaning given that term in section 101 of 
        title 5, United States Code, but does not include the 
        Department of the Interior.
            (2) Freely associated states.--The term ``Freely Associated 
        States'' means the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the 
        Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.
            (3) Insular areas.--The term ``insular areas'' means the 
        territories and Freely Associated States.
            (4) Territories.--The term ``territories'' means American 
        Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the 
        Virgin Islands of the United States.
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