A bill to authorize the release to museums in the United States of certain objects owned by the United States Information Agency.
Public Law 99-475 · H.R. 5522 · 99th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Oct 16, 1986 · Arts, Culture, Religion
Sponsor: Rep. Daniel Mica (D-FL-14)
Cosponsors (1): Rep. James Olin
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
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.
Authorizes the Director of the U.S. Information Agency to release to any U.S. museum certain objects that were on display at the U.S. pavilion at the 86 Expo in Vancouver, Canada, if such museum pays all costs associated with the transfer of such objects.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
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.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 10 actions.
- Oct 16, 1986Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-475.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 8, 1986PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 1, 1986FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- Sep 30, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Sep 24, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Sep 22, 1986FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- Sep 16, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Foreign Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.