Smithsonian Facilities Authorization Act
Public Law 108-72 · H.R. 2195 · 108th Congress · began in the House
Signed by George W. Bush (R) on Aug 15, 2003 · Arts, Culture, Religion
Sponsor: Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH-16)
Cosponsors (2): Rep. Sam Johnson, Rep. Robert Matsui
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Smithsonian Facilities Authorization Act - (Sec. 2) Amends Federal law to authorize the Board of Regents (Board) of the Smithsonian Institution to plan, design, construct, and equip additional special use storage and laboratory space (Pod 5) at the Museum Support Facility in Suitland, Maryland, to accommodate the care, preservation, conservation, deposit, and study of national collections held in trust by the Institution.
Authorize appropriations for FY 2003 through 2008.
(Sec. 3) Authorizes the Board to plan, design, and construct improvements to the interior and exterior of the Patent Office Building (including the construction of a roof covering for the courtyard), using funds available to the Institution from nonappropriated sources.
Requires the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to submit the design and specifications for any Patent Office Building exterior alterations to the Commission of Fine Arts for comments and recommendations, subject to the review and approval of the National Capital Planning Commission.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) take into account the effect of such improvements on the historic character of the Patent Office Building; and (2) provide the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation a reasonable opportunity to comment on them.
Deems the Smithsonian Institution to be an agency for purposes of compliance with regulations promulgated by the Advisory Council under the National Historic Preservation Act.
(Sec. 4) Authorizes the Secretary, under the authority of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, to enter into: (1) multi-year contracts for the acquisition of property and services; and (2) contracts for the acquisition of severable services for a period that begins in one fiscal year and ends in the next fiscal year.
(Sec. 5) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program for making voluntary separation incentive payments for Smithsonian employees which is substantially similar to a specified program established under the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
(Sec. 6) Declares the sense of Congress that: (1) the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History should be commended for establishing a Jazz Appreciation Month; and (2) musicians, schools, colleges, libraries, concert halls, museums, radio and television stations, and other organizations should develop programs to explore, perpetuate, and honor jazz as a national and world treasure.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
- Transportation and Infrastructure Committee · House · referred toSubcommittee: Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
The record lists no related bills.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 14 actions.
- Aug 15, 2003Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 108-72.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Aug 7, 2003FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Aug 1, 2003FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Jul 31, 2003FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Jul 16, 2003CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate, read twice.
- Jul 15, 2003FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 2195.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Ney moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- May 22, 2003CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.
- May 21, 2003CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee…
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.