43 U.S.C. § 2802 — Federal Geographic Data Committee

(a) In general. The Department of the Interior must have an interagency committee^* called the Federal Geographic Data Committee. It is the executive branch’s lead entity for developing, putting into practice, and reviewing policies, practices, and standards for geospatial data^*. (b) Membership. (1) The Interior Secretary is the Chairperson, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget is the Vice Chairperson. (2)(A) The head of each covered agency^* and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director must each name an agency representative to serve. (B) Each appointed officer must be an assistant secretary, equivalent officer, or higher-ranking officer. (3) No later than one year after October 5, 2018, and later as needed, the OMB Director must update guidance about Committee membership and member roles. (c) Duties. The Committee must: (1) lead development, management, and operational decisions for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure^* strategic plan and geospatial-data policy under section 2804; (2) designate National Geospatial Data Asset data themes and oversee their coordinated management under section 2805; (3) establish and maintain geospatial-data standards under section 2806; (4) periodically review and decide how fully covered agencies comply with those standards; (5) ensure the GeoPlatform^* operates under section 2807; (6) direct and facilitate national implementation of the National Geospatial Data Asset data-theme system; (7) communicate among covered agencies and other entities and people about geospatial technology development, transfer, and exchange to (A) identify and meet user needs, (B) promote cost-effective collection, documentation, maintenance, distribution, and preservation, and (C) use Federal and non-Federal resources, including shared services and cross-agency marketplace coordination; (8) define roles and responsibilities and promote cooperation among Federal, State, tribal, and local governments, higher-education institutions, and the private sector in collecting, producing, sharing, and using geospatial information, implementing the Infrastructure, and identifying proven practices^*; (9) coordinate with international organizations interested in the Infrastructure or global spatial-data infrastructures; (10) make available online and update at least yearly: (A) a status summary for each data theme, based on the lead agency’s section 2805 report, including an evaluation of progress on section 2805(b)(3)(A)-(D) and a finding for each whether the lead agency meets expectations, is progressing toward them, or fails to meet them; (B) a summary and evaluation of each covered agency’s achievements, based on its section 2808(b)(1) report, including the same finding for each section 2808(a)(1)-(13) requirement; (C) technical publications, management articles, and reports about the Infrastructure; and (D) a Committee membership directory identifying subcommittee and working-group members; (11)(A) give the Advisory Committee^* the summaries and evaluations under (10)(A) and (B) and request comments, (B) respond if the Advisory Committee asks, and (C) at least every two years report to Congress with those summaries, evaluations, comments, and responses; (12)(A) give covered agencies those summaries and evaluations and request comments, and (B) at least every two years report to Congress with the agencies’ comments and the Committee’s responses; and (13) support and promote networks, systems, services, and standards that give users a digital representation of Earth for many applications. (d) Staff support. The Committee must establish an Office of the Secretariat within Interior to provide administrative, strategic-planning, funding, and technical support.