RECORD OF DECISIONS
 
 
From:​Broadcasting Board of Governors
 
Date: ​September 15, 2011
 
Subject: ​Decisions of Board at BBG Meeting of September 15, 2011
 
 
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) met today in the Voice of America Briefing Room at BBG Headquarters in Washington, D.C.  The meeting was open for public observation via streaming on the BBG website.
 
The meeting was attended by the following Board members:
 
Chairman Walter Isaacson
Governor Victor Ashe
Governor Michael Meehan
Governor Dennis Mulhaupt
Governor Dana Perino
Acting Under Secretary of State Ann Stock
 
Governors Susan McCue, Enders Wimbush and Michael Lynton were not in attendance at the meeting.
 
The Broadcasting Board of Governors agreed to the following decision elements (all decisions were adopted by a unanimous vote unless otherwise indicated):
 
1. Adoption of July 14, 2011 Minutes.  The Board adopts the minutes of July 14, 2011 meeting as set forth in Attachment 1.
 
2. Adoption of Governance Committee Recommendations.  The Board heard a briefing from Governor Mulhaupt regarding the Governance Committee meeting held on September 14, 2011. The Board adopts the following recommendations by the Governance Committee:
 
a. Adoption of the July 13, 2011 Governance Committee Report.  The Board adopts the July 13, 2011 Governance Committee report [Attachment 2] in its entirety, noting that the plenary Board had already adopted a number of the recommendations individually at the Board’s July 14, 2011 meeting.
 
b. Status of IBB-BBG Merger.  The Board received a status update on the implementation of its April 2011 decision to merge the staffs of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) and the BBG.
i. The Board noted that a reprogramming letter outlining the new IBB offices was sent to the Agency’s Congressional oversight committees on August 26, 2011 and that Congressional concurrence was received the day before the meeting.
 
ii. The Board directs the IBB Director to create the offices contemplated in the reprogramming letter (and previously approved by the Board at its June 2011 meeting) in order to implement the IBB/BBG merger in compliance with applicable law and regulation.  
 
c. Revision of Grant Agreement
 
i. The Board noted its September 2010 decision to revise the terms and conditions of the grant agreements to correspond to the operational realities of the relationships between the BBG and each respective grantee, the requirements of the U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994, as amended, and federal grant law.
 
ii. The Board noted that IBB staff has worked with the legal and financial staffs of the grantees to prepare a revised grant agreement in order to satisfy the requirements of the September 2010 Board decision.
 
iii. The Board noted the advice of the BBG Office of General Counsel that the proposed grant agreement is consistent with the BBG’s statutory authority and complies with applicable law and regulation.
 
iv. The Board approves the revised grant agreement [Attachment 3] in all material respects and directs the IBB Director to work with the grantees to finalize the agreements and issue them to the grantees for signature by no later than October 1, 2011.
 
d. Release of Materials from Closed Board Meetings.  
 
i. The Board directs the IBB Director to develop a protocol for producing minutes for all future closed meetings of the plenary Board and releasing to the public such portions of the minutes as may be lawful and prudent to release.
 
ii. The protocol should involve a mechanism to allow interested Governors to review the minutes prior to their release.
 
 
 
_____________________________
Walter Isaacson
Chairman
 
Witnessed:
 
 
 
______________________________
Paul Kollmer-Dorsey
Secretary
 
Attachments:
1. Minutes of July 14, 2011 Meeting
2. Governance Committee Report from July 13, 2011 Meeting
3. Revised Grant Agreement