I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 373 

To amend the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 to ensure that 

actions taken by regulatory agencies are subject to that Act, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 20, 2011 

Ms. FOXX (for herself, Mr. CUELLAR, and Mr. KISSELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, the Budget, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

to ensure that actions taken by regulatory agencies are 

subject to that Act, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unfunded Mandates 

5 Information and Transparency Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) before acting on proposed Federal man2 dates, Congress should carefully consider their ef3 fects on consumers, workers, and small businesses; 

4 (2) Congress has often acted without adequate 

5 information concerning the costs of Federal man6 dates, instead focusing only on their benefits; 

7 (3) the implementation of the Unfunded Man8 dates Reform Act of 1995 has resulted in increased 

9 awareness of Federal mandates without impacting 

10 existing environmental, public health, or safety laws 

11 or regulations; 

12 (4) this Act builds on the success of the Un13 funded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 by further en14 hancing public awareness of prospective Federal 

15 mandates on the private sector, State, local, and 

16 tribal governments without adversely affecting the 

17 environment, public health, or safety laws or regula18 tions; 

19 (5) the costs of private sector mandates are 

20 often borne in part by consumers, in the form of 

21 higher prices and reduced availability of goods and 

22 services; 

23 (6) the costs of private sector mandates are 

24 often borne in part by workers, in the form of lower 


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1 wages, reduced benefits, and fewer job opportunities; 

2 and 

3 (7) the costs of private sector mandates are 

4 often borne in part by employers and small busi5 nesses, in the form of hiring disincentives and stunt6 ed economic growth. 

7 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

8 The purpose of this Act is— 

9 (1) to improve the quality of Congress’ delibera10 tion with respect to proposed Federal mandates, 

11 by— 

12 (A) providing Congress and the public with 

13 more complete information about the effects of 

14 such mandates; and 

15 (B) ensuring that Congress acts on such 

16 mandates only after focused deliberation on 

17 their effects; and 

18 (2) to enhance the ability of Congress and the 

19 public to identify Federal mandates that may impose 

20 undue harm on consumers, workers, employers, 

21 small businesses, State, local, and tribal govern22 ments. 


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1 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO 

2 POLICIES INVOLVING CHANGES IN CONDI3 TIONS OF GRANT AID. 

4 Section 423(c) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

5 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para6 graph (2), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’ 

7 at the end of paragraph (3), and by adding at the end 

8 the following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(4) an assessment of the authorized level of 

10 funding to determine if the prospective costs of car11 rying out changes to a condition of Federal assist12 ance being imposed on participating State, local, or 

13 tribal governments, and how these costs compare 

14 with the funds being authorized or, for reauthoriza15 tions, of the additional costs of changes in those con16 ditions and how they compare with the changes in 

17 funding being authorized; and in cases where a bill 

18 or joint resolution provides such sums as are nec19 essary, the assessment shall contain an estimate of 

20 that amount.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF LEGISLATIVE REPORT22 ING REQUIREMENTS TO INCLUDE INDIRECT 

23 COSTS. 

24 (a) INDIRECT COSTS.—Section 423(c) of the Con25 gressional Budget Act of 1974 (as amended by section 4) 

26 is further amended— 


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1 (1) in its side heading, by inserting ‘‘and Other 

2 Costs’’ after ‘‘Mandates’’; and 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

4 (3), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’ at 

5 the end of paragraph (4), and by adding at the end 

6 the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(5) an identification and description of any 

8 reasonably foreseeable indirect costs to State, local, 

9 or tribal governments, or by the private sector, in10 curred as a result of implementing the Federal man11 date in the bill or joint resolution.’’. 

12 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 421 of the Congressional 

13 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by redesignating para14 graphs (10) through (13) as paragraphs (11) through 

15 (14), respectively, and by adding after paragraph (9) the 

16 following new paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(10) REASONABLY FORESEEABLE INDIRECT

18 COSTS.—The term ‘reasonably foreseeable indirect 

19 costs’ means costs to the affected entities resulting 

20 from implementation of a Federal mandate other 

21 than their own direct costs to carry out any such 

22 mandate. Such costs include lost income and sec23 ondary monetary costs resulting from the Federal 

24 mandate.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF REGULATORY REPORT2 ING REQUIREMENTS TO INCLUDE INDIRECT 

3 COSTS. 

4 Section 202(a) of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 

5 Act of 1995 is amended by striking ‘‘the expenditure by’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect 

7 costs to’’. 

8 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO 

9 INCLUDE REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY INDE10 PENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES. 

11 Paragraph (1) of section 421 of the Congressional 

12 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘, but does 

13 not include independent regulatory agencies’’. 

14 SEC. 8. CLARIFICATION TO ENSURE REGULATORY AGENCY 

15 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS APPLIES TO ALL 

16 RESPECTIVE REGULATORY ACTIONS. 

17 Section 201 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

18 of 1995 is amended by inserting ‘‘expressly’’ after ‘‘other19 wise’’. 

20 SEC. 9. CLOSE LEGAL LOOPHOLE ALLOWING FOR DIS21 REGARDING OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 

22 BY REGULATORY AGENCIES. 

23 Section 202(a) of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 

24 Act of 1995 is amended by— 

25 (1) striking ‘‘Unless’’ and all that follows 

26 through ‘‘private sector,’’ the first place it appears 


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1 and inserting the following: ‘‘Unless otherwise ex2 pressly prohibited by law, before promulgating any 

3 general notice of proposed rulemaking or final rule 

4 that includes a Federal mandate that may result in 

5 direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect costs to 

6 State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggre7 gate, or to the private sector,’’; and 

8 (2) striking ‘‘and before promulgating’’ and all 

9 that follows through ‘‘containing—’’ and inserting 

10 the following: ‘‘or within six months after promul11 gating any final rule that was not preceded by a 

12 general notice of proposed rulemaking that includes 

13 a Federal mandate that may result in direct or rea14 sonably foreseeable indirect costs by State, local, and 

15 tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the pri16 vate sector, of such amount or more (adjusted annu17 ally for inflation) in any one year; the agency shall 

18 prepare a written statement containing—’’. 

Æ 


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