CONFERENCE ADMINISTRATION.

SEC. 203. CONFERENCE ADMINISTRATION. (a) Administration.—In administering this section, the Secretary shall— (1) request the cooperation and assistance of the heads of such other Federal departments and agencies as may be appropriate in the carrying out of this section, (2) furnish all reasonable assistance, including financial assistance, to State agencies on the aging and to area agencies on the aging, and to other appropriate organizations, to enable them to organize and conduct conferences in conjunction with the Conference, (3) prepare and make available for public comment a proposed agenda for the Conference which will reflect to the greatest extent possible the major issues facing older individuals consistent with the provisions of subsection (a), (4) prepare and make available background materials for the use of delegates to the Conference which the Secretary deems necessary, and (5) engage such additional personnel as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section without regard to provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, and without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter Ill of chapter 53 of such title relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates. (b) Duties.—The Secretary shall, in carrying out the Secretary’s responsibilities and functions under this section, assure that— (1) the conferences under subsection (a)(2) will— 101 STAT. 970 (A) include a conference on older Indians to identify conditions that adversely affect older Indians, to propose solutions to ameliorate such conditions, and to provide for the exchange of information relating to the delivery of services to older Indians, and (B) be so conducted as to assure broad participation of older individuals, (2) the proposed agenda for the Conference under subsection (a)(3) is published in the Federal Register not less than 180 days before the beginning of the Conference and the proposed agenda is open for public comment for a period of not less than 60 da s, (3) the final agenda for the Conference under subsection (a)(3), taking into consideration the comments received under paragraph (2), is published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the chief executive officers of the States not later than 30 days after the close of the public comment period provided for under paragraph (2), (4) the personnel engaged under subsection (a)(5) shall be fairly balanced in terms of points of views represented and shall be appointed without regard to political affiliation or previous partisan activities, (5) the recommendations of the Conference are not inappropriately influenced by any appointing authority or by any special interest, but will instead be the result of the independent judgment of the Conference, and (6) current and adequate statistical data, including decennial census data, and other information on the well-being of older individuals in the United States are readily available, in advance of the Conference, to the delegates of the Conference, together with such information as may be necessary to evaluate Federal programs and policies relating to aging. In carrying out this subparagraph, the Secretary is authorized to make grants to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, public agencies and nonprofit private organizations.