---
type: "LegalText"
title: "20 U.S.C. § 46a"
description: "Employment of aliens by Secretary"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 20
title_name: "EDUCATION"
chapter_number: "3"
chapter_name: "SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, NATIONAL MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES"
section: "46a"
citation: "20 U.S.C. § 46a"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc20@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t20/s46a"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-20/usc20.xml"
source_hash: "e58786dbef18f99ea0bff25821a0288a7208823ef639fdbfa75573c14aee6352"
raw_snapshot_hash: "6022872c5d6a3398d1728f82f8cefcb58db9f5ff548e2a636450be1e4a8bb052"
text_hash: "5376d1827375cca9f476ca5f544a3b578684d7ed404b119b158445ba762bdcc3"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 20 U.S.C. § 46a - Employment of aliens by Secretary

## Text

The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, subject to adequate security and other investigations as he may determine to be appropriate, and subject further to a prior determination by him that no qualified United States citizen is available for the particular position involved, is authorized to employ and compensate aliens in a scientific or technical capacity at authorized rates of compensation without regard to statutory provisions prohibiting payment of compensation to aliens.

(Pub. L. 88–549, Aug. 31, 1964, 78 Stat. 754.)