Citizens Advisory Committees/Panels

Citizens advisory committees/panels (CAC/P) are composed of individuals, with membership drawn from a cross section of the community, who provide a link between the public and various organizations who operate in the region by providing counsel and recommendations on matters of public affairs and public policy.

CAC/Ps perform key functions for community residents, private interest groups, government, nongovernmental organizations, and private industry. They improve the quality of services by encouraging closer ties between the public and organizations that have an affect on their community, and make for improved decision-making capabilities that involve perspectives from interested parties who participate in the process. CAC/Ps incorporate strategic community relations values such as the cooperation of key stakeholders, information and [Page 128]perception exchange, and the development of trust, sense of control, credibility, and consensus making.

Through the implementation of public policy at the community level, CAC/Ps provide a level of accountability for government, nongovernmental, and private organizations, opening up decisionmaking and policy formation processes to concerned citizens while providing resources for citizens to participate in the public policy process.

The use of advisory committees moves the role of external input and influence to an internal advisory role working within the system. This public/private partnership facilitated by the role of the advisory committee is the “buckle that fastens the administrative process to the dominant institutions, elites, and value in society” (Cottin, 1973, p. 1140). The proliferation of and increased use and dependence upon advisory committees is a product of a response to the needs of the citizenry, the needs of government officials, and the demands of special interest groups to work together in reaching compromise and solutions to numerous public policy concerns.

Originally categorized as lay advisory committees, CAC/Ps gained a foothold in American society because, as a representative democracy, they provide a means by which citizens represent their community in addressing particular public affair issues ranging from education to land preservation.

The Western development and use of citizens committees can be traced back to England, where the use of such advisory groups for education and government was seen on a wide scale. In the United States, formal community advisory groups have been in operation since the first presidency. There was a significant increase in the number and types of community advisory groups during World War I, when many governmental commissions had citizens serving in an advisory capacity. Their role expanded during the depression of the 1930s, providing counsel on such topics as national illiteracy and emergency aid. During and following World War II, CAC/Ps expanded into areas of labor-management relations and postwar training programs for agricultural and industrial production.

The development and expansion of CAC/Ps have been driven not just by citizens' desires to participate in the public policy process, but also by national legislation aimed at increasing community input on vital issues. This approach is often called legislative citizen participation.

At the federal level, the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act (Public Law 92–463) defines an advisory committee as any committee, board, commission, council, panel, task force, or similar group established in the interest of obtaining advice or recommendations for the president or one or more agencies of offices of the federal government. Federal advisory committees constitute one of the most significant vehicles for special interest group representation and influence on the policy-making process of the national government. This form of government by committee has been termed the fifth arm of the federal government.

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