42 U.S.C. § 280i–2 — Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

(a) Establishment. The Secretary must set up the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee to coordinate all of HHS's autism spectrum disorder (ASD) work. (b) Responsibilities. The Committee must regularly (1) track ASD research and, where practical, services and support work across federal agencies, and coordinate federal ASD activities; (2) summarize advances in ASD research on causes, prevention, treatment, screening, diagnosis, interventions (including school and community ones), and access to services across a person's life; (3) recommend changes to the Secretary, including to the strategic plan in (5); (4) recommend how the public can weigh in on ASD decisions and how to better use that feedback; (5) build a strategic plan for ASD research (as described in section 284g(a)(1)) that includes (A) proposed budget needs and (B) ways to keep HHS's and other agencies' ASD research and services from needlessly overlapping; and (6) send Congress and the President (A) a yearly update summarizing research advances, and (B) an update every two years on the strategic plan's progress and specific actions taken. (c) Membership. (1) Federal members include (A) the CDC Director, (B) the NIH Director and relevant institute directors, (C) heads of other agencies the Secretary picks, such as the Administration for Community Living, Administration for Children and Families, CMS, FDA, and HRSA, and (D) representatives from other federal agencies serving people with ASD, like Education, Labor, Justice, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Defense. (2) Non-federal members must make up between one-third and one-half of the Committee, appointed by the Secretary, including (A) at least three people diagnosed with ASD, (B) at least three parents or guardians of someone with ASD, and (C) at least three representatives of major ASD research, advocacy, or service groups. (3) Period of appointment; vacancies. (A) Non-federal members serve 4-year terms and may be reappointed once. (B) A vacancy is filled the same way the original appointment was made and doesn't affect the Committee's power. Someone filling an unexpired term serves only the rest of it, and members may stay until a successor is named. (d) Administrative support; terms of service; other provisions. (1) The Secretary must give the Committee needed administrative support. (2) The Committee meets when its chair or the Secretary calls a meeting, at least twice a year. (3) All meetings are public and must include time for public questions and comments. (e) Subcommittees; establishment and membership. The Committee may create subcommittees and hold workshops or conferences; subcommittees, made up of Committee members, may meet as needed. (f) Sunset. This section, and the Committee itself, stop applying and end on September 30, 2029.