Executive Branch Responsibilities With Respect To Orders of Succession
Signed September 11, 2008·George W. Bush·73 FR 53353
Source
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Plain-language summary
Directs executive branch agencies to establish, maintain, and update orders of succession listing officials who would act as agency head if the head dies, resigns, or otherwise cannot serve. Agencies whose succession orders require presidential action must draft or revise them within 30 days and send them to the Counsel to the President for review before submission to the Office of Management and Budget. Agencies that can set succession orders under their own existing legal authority must follow applicable law and any guidance from the President or the Secretary of Homeland Security, send proposed revisions to the Counsel to the President before implementing them, and provide copies of their succession orders to the Counsel to the President, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget within 30 days, or within 7 days of any later revision. The order does not alter existing legal authorities, does not delegate the President's powers under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and creates no enforceable legal rights.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
See: EO 11030, June 15, 1962
Compiled after the fact by the National Archives, so recent orders often have none yet. An empty disposition means no record, not no activity.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13472 of September 11, 2008
Executive Branch Responsibilities With Respect To
Orders of Succession
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. Policy. It is the policy of the Federal
Government to ensure that each executive branch agency
can perform its essential functions and remain an
effectively functioning part of the Federal Government
under all conditions. Accordingly, each agency shall
take all appropriate actions to establish, maintain,
and, as necessary, revise an order of succession, or to
propose presidential action to establish or revise an
order of succession.
Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this order:
(a) “agency” means:
(i) an executive agency as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States
Code, other than the Government Accountability Office; and
(ii) the United States Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission;
and
(b) “order of succession” means a list of officials by position who shall
act as and perform the functions and duties of the office of the head of
the agency in the event that the office-holder has died, resigned, or
otherwise become unable to perform the functions and duties of the office.
“Order of succession” does not include any order, rule, memorandum, or
other document delegating or partially delegating the authority of an
office.
Sec. 3. Orders of Succession Requiring Presidential
Action.
(a) Each agency for which presidential action is required to establish an
order of succession shall draft a proposed order of succession if no such
order exists and, not later than 30 days from the date of this order, send
such proposed draft order to the Counsel to the President for review and
comment.
(b) Each agency described in subsection 3(a) of this order shall send any
proposed updates or revisions to the agency's order of succession to the
Counsel to the President for review and comment.
(c) Upon completion of the requirements set forth by subsections (a) or (b)
of this section with respect to a proposed order, the agency shall submit
the proposed order to the Office of Management and Budget in accordance
with Executive Order 11030, as amended.
Sec. 4. Orders of Succession Not Requiring Presidential
Action. (a) Each agency for which presidential action
is not required to establish an order of succession
because of the agency's existing legal authority shall
establish and maintain such order in accordance with
applicable law and any applicable guidance issued by
the President or the Secretary of Homeland Security,
including the laws and guidance regarding continuity
plans and programs for the executive branch.
(b) Each agency described in subsection 4(a) of this order shall update and
revise its order of succession as necessary. Before implementing any
revisions to its order of succession, such agency shall send the proposed
revisions to the Counsel to the President for review and comment.
(c) Not later than 30 days from the date of this order, and not later than
7 days from the issuance date of any subsequent final revision
to an existing order of succession, each agency described in subsection
4(a) of this order shall provide a copy of its order of succession to the
Counsel to the President, the Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security and Counterterrorism, and the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof;
or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to delegate the President's
authority under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et
seq., to designate individuals to perform the functions and duties of a
vacant office temporarily in an acting capacity.
(c) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable
law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(d) 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 agencies, instrumentalities, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 11, 2008Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed September 11, 2008. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.