Interagency Group on Insular Areas

Executive Order 13537 of April 14, 2010

Interagency Group on Insular Areas

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Interagency Group on Insular Areas.

(a) There is established, within the Department of
the Interior for administrative purposes, the
Interagency Group on Insular Areas (IGIA) to address
policies concerning Guam, American Samoa, the United
States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands (Insular Areas).
(b) The IGIA shall consist of:

(i) the heads of the executive departments, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 101;

(ii) the heads of such other executive agencies as the Co-Chairs of the
IGIA may designate; and (iii) the Deputy Assistant to the President and
Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

(c) The Secretary of the Interior and the Deputy
Assistant to the President and Director of
Intergovernmental Affairs shall serve as Co-Chairs of
the IGIA, convene and preside at its meetings, direct
its work, and establish such subgroups of the IGIA as
they deem appropriate, consisting exclusively of
members of the IGIA.
(d) Members of the IGIA may designate a senior
department or agency official who is a full-time
officer or employee of the Federal Government to
perform their IGIA functions.

Sec. 2. Functions of the IGIA. The IGIA shall:

(a) advise the President on establishment or
implementation of policies concerning the Insular
Areas;
(b) solicit information and advice concerning the
Insular Areas from the Governors of, and other elected
officials in, the Insular Areas (including through at
least one meeting each year with any Governors of the
Insular Areas who may wish to attend) in a manner that
seeks their individual advice and does not involve
collective judgment, or consensus advice or
deliberation;
(c) solicit information and advice concerning the
Insular Areas, as the IGIA determines appropriate, from
representatives of entities or other individuals in a
manner that seeks their individual advice and does not
involve collective judgment, or consensus advice or
deliberation;
(d) solicit information from executive departments
or agencies for purposes of carrying out its mission;
and
(e) at the request of the head of any executive
department or agency who is a member of the IGIA, with
the approval of the Co-Chairs, promptly review and
provide advice on a policy or policy implementation
action affecting the Insular Areas proposed by that
department or agency.

Sec. 3. Recommendations. The IGIA shall:

(a) submit annually to the President a report
containing recommendations regarding the establishment
or implementation of policies concerning the Insular
Areas; and
(b) provide to the President, from time to time, as
appropriate, recommendations concerning proposed or
existing Federal programs and policies affecting the
Insular Areas.

Sec. 4. General Provisions.

(a) The heads of executive departments and
agencies shall assist and provide information to the
IGIA, consistent with applicable law, as may be
necessary to carry out the functions of the IGIA. Each
executive department and agency shall bear its own
expenses of participating in the IGIA.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to
impair or otherwise affect:

(i) authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof, or the status of that department or agency within the Federal
Government; or

(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(c) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(d) This order shall supersede Executive Order
13299 of May 8, 2003.
(e) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 14, 2010.