I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2255 

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 

MAY 5, 2009 

Ms. FOXX (for herself and Mr. CUELLAR) 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 2009’’. 

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 intergovernmental mandates without 

10 impacting existing environmental, public health, or 

11 safety laws or regulations; 

12 (4) the implementation of this Act will enhance 

13 public awareness of prospective Federal mandates on 

14 the private sector, State, local, and tribal govern15 ments without adversely affecting the environment, 

16 public health, or safety laws or regulations; 

17 (5) the costs of private sector mandates are 

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

19 higher prices and reduced availability of goods and 

20 services; 

21 (6) the costs of private sector mandates are 

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

23 wages, reduced benefits, and fewer job opportunities; 

24 and 


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1 (7) the costs of private sector mandates are 

2 often borne in part by small businesses, in the form 

3 of hiring disincentives and stunted economic growth. 

4 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

5 The purpose of this Act is— 

6 (1) to improve the quality of Congress’ delibera7 tion with respect to proposed Federal mandates, 

8 by— 

9 (A) providing Congress and the public with 

10 more complete information about the effects of 

11 such mandates; and 

12 (B) ensuring that Congress acts on such 

13 mandates only after focused deliberation on 

14 their effects; and 

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

16 public to distinguish between Federal mandates that 

17 harm consumers, workers, small businesses, State, 

18 local, and tribal governments and mandates that 

19 help those groups. 

20 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO 

21 POLICIES INVOLVING CHANGES IN CONDI22 TIONS OF GRANT AID. 

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

24 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para25 graph (2), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’ 


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

2 the following new paragraph: 

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

4 funding to determine if the prospective costs of car5 rying out changes to a condition of Federal assist6 ance being imposed on participating State, local, or 

7 tribal governments, and how these costs compare 

8 with the funds being authorized or, for reauthoriza9 tions, of the additional costs of changes in those con10 ditions and how they compare with the changes in 

11 funding being authorized; and in cases where a bill 

12 or joint resolution provides such sums as are nec13 essary, the assessment shall contain an estimate of 

14 that amount.’’. 

15 SEC. 5. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF LEGISLATIVE REPORT16 ING REQUIREMENTS TO INCLUDE INDIRECT 

17 COSTS. 

18 (a) INDIRECT COSTS.—Section 423(c) of the Con19 gressional Budget Act of 1974 (as amended by section 4) 

20 is further amended— 

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

22 Costs’’ after ‘‘Mandates’’; and 

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

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


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

2 the following new paragraph: 

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

4 reasonably foreseeable indirect costs to State, local, 

5 or tribal governments, or by the private sector, in6 curred as a result of implementing the Federal man7 date in the bill or joint resolution.’’. 

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

9 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by redesignating para10 graphs (10) through (13) as paragraphs (11) through 

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

12 following new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(10) REASONABLY FORESEEABLE INDIRECT

14 COSTS.—The term ‘reasonably foreseeable indirect 

15 costs’ means costs to the affected entities resulting 

16 from implementation of a Federal mandate other 

17 than their own direct costs to carry out any such 

18 mandate. Such costs include lost income and sec19 ondary monetary costs resulting from the Federal 

20 mandate.’’. 

21 SEC. 6. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF REGULATORY REPORT22 ING REQUIREMENTS TO INCLUDE INDIRECT 

23 COSTS. 

24 Section 202(a) of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 

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


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1 and inserting ‘‘direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect 

2 costs to’’. 

3 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO 

4 INCLUDE REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY INDE5 PENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES. 

6 Paragraph (1) of section 421 of the Congressional 

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

8 not include independent regulatory agencies’’. 

9 SEC. 8. CLARIFICATION TO ENSURE REGULATORY AGENCY 

10 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS APPLIES TO ALL 

11 RESPECTIVE REGULATORY ACTIONS. 

12 Section 201 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

13 of 1995 is amended by inserting ‘‘expressly’’ after ‘‘other14 wise’’. 

15 SEC. 9. CLOSE LEGAL LOOPHOLE ALLOWING FOR DIS16 REGARDING OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 

17 BY REGULATORY AGENCIES. 

18 Section 202(a) of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 

19 Act of 1995 is amended by— 

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

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

22 and inserting the following: ‘‘Unless otherwise ex23 pressly prohibited by law, before promulgating any 

24 general notice of proposed rulemaking or final rule 

25 that includes a Federal mandate that may result in 


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1 direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect costs to 

2 State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggre3 gate, or to the private sector,’’; and 

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

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

6 the following: ‘‘or within six months after promul7 gating any final rule that was not preceded by a 

8 general notice of proposed rulemaking that includes 

9 a Federal mandate that may result in direct or rea10 sonably foreseeable indirect costs by State, local, and 

11 tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the pri12 vate sector, of such amount or more (adjusted annu13 ally for inflation) in any one year; the agency shall 

14 prepare a written statement containing—’’. 

Æ 


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