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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 894

To require the Congressional Budget Office to prepare estimates of the

cost incurred by State and local governments in carrying out or complying with new legislation; to amend the Rules of the House of Representatives to require the inclusion of such estimates in committee reports

on bills and joint resolutions; and to amend the Rules of the House

of Representatives to ensure that Federal laws requiring activities by

such governments shall not apply unless all amounts necessary to pay

the direct costs of the activities are provided by the Federal Government.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 16, 1993

Mr. HEFLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Rules

A BILL

To require the Congressional Budget Office to prepare estimates of the cost incurred by State and local governments in carrying out or complying with new legislation;

to amend the Rules of the House of Representatives

to require the inclusion of such estimates in committee

reports on bills and joint resolutions; and to amend the

Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that

Federal laws requiring activities by such governments

shall not apply unless all amounts necessary to pay the

direct costs of the activities are provided by the Federal

Government.
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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 ‘‘Mandate Relief Act

5 of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTIMATION BY CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

7 OF COST INCURRED BY STATE AND LOCAL

8 GOVERNMENTS IN COMPLYING WITH LEGIS9 LATION.

10 (a) COST ESTIMATION REQUIREMENT.—For each bill

11 or joint resolution of a public character reported by any

12 committee of the House of Representatives or the Senate,

13 and for each conference report reported by a conference

14 committee of the Congress, the Director of the Congres15 sional Budget Office shall prepare and submit to the

16 House of Representatives or the Senate, respectively (or

17 in the case of a conference report to both)—

18 (1) an estimate of the cost which would be in19 curred by State and local governments in carrying

20 out or complying with the bill or resolution in the

21 fiscal year in which it is to become effective and in

22 each of the 4 fiscal years following such fiscal year,

23 including a description of the basis for the estimate;

24 and
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1 (2) a comparison of the estimate of cost de2 scribed in paragraph (1) with any available esti3 mates of such cost made such committee or by any

4 Federal agency.

5 (b) ESTIMATES TO BE INCLUDED IN REPORT.—The

6 estimate and description required for a bill or joint resolu7 tion under subsection (a) shall be included in the report

8 accompanying the bill or joint resolution.

9 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 403 of the

10 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653) is

11 amended—

12 (1) in subsection (a) by—

13 (A) striking paragraph (2);

14 (B) redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4)

15 in order as paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively;

16 and

17 (C) in paragraph (2), as redesignated by

18 subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘paragraphs (1)

19 and (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)’’;

20 (2) by striking subsections (b) and (c); and

21 (3) by striking ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SEC. 403’’.

22 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT UNDER HOUSE RULES TO INCLUDE

23 ESTIMATES IN COMMITTEE REPORTS.

24 Clause 2(l)(3) of rule XI of the Rules of the House

25 of Representatives is amended—
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1 (1) in clause (C) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the

2 semicolon at the end; and

3 (2) in clause (D) by striking the period at the

4 end and inserting the following: ‘‘; and (E) the esti5 mate and comparison prepared by the Director of

6 the Congressional Budget Office under section 2(a)

7 of the Mandate Relief Act of 1993, separately set

8 out and clearly identified.’’.

9 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT UNDER HOUSE RULES TO PROVIDE

10 APPROPRIATIONS TO PAY COSTS TO STATE

11 AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

12 Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representa13 tives is amended by adding at the end the following:

14 ‘‘8. It shall not be in order to consider a bill, joint

15 resolution, or conference report for which the Director of

16 the Congressional Budget Office is required to submit an

17 estimate under section 2(a) of the Mandate Relief Act of

18 1993 unless the bill, joint resolution, or conference report

19 contains the following statement of law: ‘A requirement

20 under this Act that a unit of State or local government

21 conduct an activity (including a requirement that such a

22 government meet national standards in providing a serv23 ice) shall not apply to such a unit unless and until all

24 amounts necessary to pay the direct costs incurred by the
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1 unit in conducting the activity are provided to the unit

2 by the Government of the United States.’.

3 ‘‘9. An amendment shall not be in order during the

4 consideration of a bill or joint resolution if (A) the amend5 ment includes a provision which if included in a bill, joint

6 resolution, or conference report reported by a committee

7 or conference committee would result in the Director of

8 the Congressional Budget Office being required to submit

9 an estimate under section 2(a) of the Mandate Relief Act

10 of 1993, and (B) upon approval of the amendment the

11 bill or resolution would not include the statement of law

12 set forth in clause 8.’’.

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