Smithsonian Facilities Authorization Act

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House passed version is repeated here.)

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.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov