Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Transportation
Signed January 9, 2009·George W. Bush·74 FR 2287
Source
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Plain-language summary
Sets an order of succession within the Department of Transportation, listing the Administrators of the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Maritime Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, and Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, along with two regional Federal Aviation Administration officials and a Federal Highway Administration resource center director, to act as Secretary of Transportation if the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary for Policy, and other officials previously designated are unable to serve. Excludes anyone already serving in an acting capacity in a listed office, and requires eligibility under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. Preserves presidential discretion to depart from the order. Supersedes a 2002 presidential memorandum on the same subject and applies only to internal executive branch management, creating no enforceable 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 under the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., 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
Supersedes: Memorandum of March 19, 2002
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 13485 of January 9, 2009
Providing an Order of Succession Within the
Department of Transportation
By the authority vested in me as President under the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., it is hereby ordered that:
Section 1. Order of Succession. Subject to the
provisions of section 2 of this order, the following
officials of the Department of Transportation, in the
order listed, shall act as and perform the functions
and duties of the office of the Secretary of
Transportation (Secretary), during any period in which
the Secretary, the Deputy Secretary of Transportation,
the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy, and
the officials designated by the Secretary pursuant to
49 U.S.C. 102(e) have died, resigned, or otherwise
become unable to perform the functions and duties of
the office of Secretary, until such time as the
Secretary or one of the officials listed above is able
to perform the duties of that office:
(a) Administrator of the Federal Highway
Administration;
(b) Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration;
(c) Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration;
(d) Administrator of the Federal Railroad
Administration;
(e) Administrator of the Federal Transit
Administration;
(f) Administrator of the Maritime Administration;
(g) Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration;
(h) Administrator of the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration;
(i) Administrator of the Research and Innovative
Technology Administration;
(j) Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway
Development Corporation;
(k) Regional Administrator, Southern Region,
Federal Aviation Administration;
(l) Director, Resource Center, Lakewood, Colorado,
Federal Highway Administration; and
(m) Regional Administrator, Northwest Mountain
Region, Federal Aviation Administration.
Sec. 2. Exceptions. (a) No individual who is serving in
an office listed in section 1 in an acting capacity, by
virtue of so serving, shall act as Secretary pursuant
to this section.
(b) No individual who is serving in an office
listed in section 1 shall act as Secretary unless that
individual is otherwise eligible to so serve under the
Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order,
the President retains discretion, to the extent
permitted by law, to depart from this order in
designating an acting Secretary.
Sec. 3. This order supersedes the President's
Memorandum of March 19, 2002 (Designation of Officers
of the Department of Transportation).
Sec. 4. This order is intended to improve the internal
management of the executive branch and 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,
January 9, 2009.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed January 9, 2009. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.