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STATUS OF PENDING LEGISLATION

[[underline]]National Museum Act[[/underline]]

The Subcommittee on  Library and Memorials of the Committee on House Administration has reported H.R.8601, reauthorizing appropriations for the Museum Act, to the full Committee with an amendment limiting funding to $1,000,000 annually for the next three fiscal years.

The Smithsonian Institution Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration will soon report companion legislation, S.2137, with a similar amendment as well as language emphasizing conservation and and a requirement to spend at least $200,000 each year in support of it.

Committee, floor, and conference action is expected by the end of June.

[[underline]]Executive Compensation[[/underline]]

No action has been taken on H.R.8731 and S.2010 to establish rates of compensation for certain positions within the Smithsonian Institution.  The House bill is with the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, and the Senate version is with the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Last year the Office of Management and Budget advised that it did not concur in our legislative proposal to place the Assistant Secretary for Public Service and the directors of the Museum of History and Technology and the Museum of Natural History in Level V of the Executive Schedule.  Comprehensive material justifying the proposal has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, together with a request for reconsideration of its position, and we have been advised that the Office of Management and Budget is still of the opinion that the Assistant Secretary for Public Service and the Directors of the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and Technology do not warrant placement in Level V of the Executive Schedule,an opinion with which we strongly disagree, based on comparable salaries in the museum field as well as autonomous affiliated bureaus of the Smithsonian.

The attention of the Regents is directed to this matter and its advice would be very much appreciated.