I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3421

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish a Federal

mandate budget and to impose cost controls on that budget, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 1, 1993

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. KASICH, Mr. COX, Mr. FRANKS of New

Jersey, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BLUTE, Mr.

BOEHNER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. HANSEN, Mr.

KINGSTON, Mr. LIVINGSTON, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. PACKARD, Mr.

ROHRABACHER, Mr. ROGERS, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. TALENT,

Mr. TORKILDSEN, and Mr. ZELIFF) introduced the following bill; which

was referred jointly to the Committees on Government Operations, Rules,

and the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish

a Federal mandate budget and to impose cost controls

on that budget, 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 ‘‘Federal Mandate Re5 duction, Reform, and Budget Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET

2 ACT OF 1974.

3 (a) FEDERAL REGULATORY BUDGET COST CONTROL

4 SYSTEM.—Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of

5 1974 is amended by inserting before section 300 the fol6 lowing new center heading ‘‘PART A—GENERAL

7 PROVISIONS’’ and by adding at the end the following

8 new part:

9 ‘‘PART B—FEDERAL MANDATE BUDGET COST

10 CONTROL

11 SEC. 321. OMB–CBO REPORTS.

12 ‘‘(a) OMB–CBO INITIAL REPORT.—Within 1 year

13 after the date of enactment of this section, OMB and CBO

14 shall jointly issue a report to the President and each

15 House of Congress that contains the following:

16 ‘‘(1) For the first budget year beginning after

17 the issuance of this report, a projection of the aggre18 gate direct cost to States and local governments of

19 complying with all Federal mandates in effect imme20 diately before issuance of the report containing the

21 projection for that budget year of the effect of cur22 rent-year Federal mandates into the budget year

23 and the outyears based on those mandates.

24 ‘‘(2) A calculation of the estimated aggregate

25 direct cost to States and local governments of com-
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1 pliance with all Federal mandates as a percentage of

2 the gross domestic product (GDP).

3 ‘‘(3) The estimated marginal cost (measured as

4 a reduction in estimated gross domestic product) to

5 States and local governments of compliance with all

6 Federal mandates in excess of the cap (to be deter7 mined under paragraph (5)) allowable for the sixth

8 year following the budget year and subsequent fiscal

9 years.

10 ‘‘(4) The effect on the domestic economy of dif11 ferent types of Federal mandates.

12 ‘‘(5) The appropriate level of personnel, admin13 istrative overhead, and programmatic savings that

14 should be achieved on a fiscal year by fiscal year

15 basis by Federal agencies that issue mandates with

16 direct costs to States and local governments through

17 the reduction of such aggregate costs to States and

18 local governments by 6.5 percent for the budget year

19 (as measured against the aggregate mandate base20 line for the first budget year to which this part ap21 plies) and by 6.5 percent increments for each of the

22 outyears (until the aggregate level of such costs does

23 not exceed 3 percent of the estimated gross domestic

24 product for the same fiscal year as the estimated

25 costs that will be incurred).
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1 ‘‘(6) Recommendations for budgeting, technical,

2 and estimating changes to improve the Federal man3 date budgeting process.

4 ‘‘(b) UPDATE REPORTS.—OMB and CBO shall issue

5 update reports on September 15th of the fifth year begin6 ning after issuance of the initial report and at 5-year in7 tervals thereafter containing all the information required

8 in the initial report, but based upon all Federal mandates

9 in effect immediately before issuance of the most recent

10 update report.

11 ‘‘(c) INITIAL BASELINE REPORT.—Within 30 days

12 after the date of enactment of this section, OMB and CBO

13 shall jointly issue a report to the President and each

14 House of Congress that contains an initial aggregate man15 date baseline for the first budget year that begins at least

16 120 days after that date of enactment. That baseline will

17 be a projection of the aggregate direct cost to States and

18 local governments of complying with all Federal mandates

19 in effect immediately before issuance of the report contain20 ing the projection for that budget year of the effect of

21 current-year Federal mandates into the budget year and

22 the outyears based on those mandates.

23 ‘‘SEC. 322. AGGREGATE MANDATE BASELINE.

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the first budget year begin25 ning after the date of enactment of this section and for
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1 every other fiscal year thereafter, the aggregate mandate

2 baseline refers to a projection of the aggregate direct cost

3 to States and local governments of complying with all Fed4 eral mandates in effect immediately before issuance of the

5 report containing the projection for that budget year of

6 the effect of current-year Federal mandates into the budg7 et year and the outyears based on those mandates. How8 ever, in the case of each of the succeeding fiscal years,

9 the baseline shall be adjusted for the estimated growth

10 during that year in the gross domestic product (GDP).

11 ‘‘(b) OMB–CBO AGGREGATE MANDATE BASELINE

12 REPORTS.—(1) The first budget year for which there shall

13 be an aggregate mandate baseline shall be the budget year

14 to which the initial OMB–CBO baseline report issued

15 under section 321(c) pertains.

16 ‘‘(2) In the case of each budget year after the budget

17 year referred to in paragraph (1), not later than Septem18 ber 15 of the current year, OMB and CBO shall jointly

19 issue a report containing the baseline referred to in sub20 section (a) for that budget year.

21 ‘‘SEC. 323. RECONCILIATION AND ALLOCATIONS.

22 ‘‘(a) RECONCILIATION DIRECTIVES.—In addition to

23 the requirements of section 310, a concurrent resolution

24 on the budget for any fiscal year shall specify—
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1 ‘‘(1) changes in laws and regulations necessary

2 to reduce the aggregate direct cost to States and

3 local governments of complying with all Federal

4 mandates by 6.5 percent for the budget year (as

5 measured against the aggregate mandate baseline

6 for the first budget year to which this part applies)

7 and by 6.5 percent increments for each of the out8 years (until the aggregate level of such costs does

9 not exceed 3 percent of the estimated gross domestic

10 product for the same fiscal year as the estimated

11 costs that will be incurred) for Federal agencies that

12 issue mandates producing direct costs to States and

13 local governments; and

14 ‘‘(2) changes in laws necessary to achieve re15 ductions in the level of personnel and administrative

16 overhead and to achieve programmatic savings for

17 the budget year and the outyears for those agencies

18 of the following:

19 ‘‘(A) In the first outyear, one-fourth of the

20 percent of reduction in mandate authority from

21 the aggregate mandate base.

22 ‘‘(B) In the second outyear, one-third of

23 the percent of reduction in mandate authority

24 from the aggregate mandate base.
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1 ‘‘(C) In the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth

2 years following the budget year, one-half of the

3 percent of reduction in mandate authority from

4 the aggregate mandate base.

5 Section 310(c) shall not apply with respect to directions

6 made under this section.

7 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATION OF TOTALS.—(1) The Committees

8 on the Budget of the House of Representatives and the

9 Senate shall each allocate aggregate 2-year mandate au10 thority among each committee of its House and by major

11 functional category for the first budget year beginning

12 after the date of enactment of this section and for the

13 second, fourth, and sixth years following the budget year

14 and then every other year thereafter.

15 ‘‘(2) As soon as practicable after receiving an alloca16 tion under paragraph (1), each committee shall subdivide

17 its allocation among its subcommittees or among pro18 grams over which it has jurisdiction.

19 ‘‘(c) POINT OF ORDER.—(1) It shall not be in order

20 in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider

21 any bill or resolution, or amendment thereto, which would

22 cause the appropriate allocation made under subsection

23 (b) for a fiscal year of mandate authority to be exceeded.

24 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The point of order set forth in para25 graph (1) may only be waived by the affirmative vote of
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1 at least three-fifths of the Members voting, a quorum

2 being present.

3 ‘‘(d) DETERMINATIONS BY BUDGET COMMITTEES.—

4 For purposes of this section, the level of mandate author5 ity for a fiscal year shall be determined by the Committee

6 on the Budget of the House of Representatives or the Sen7 ate, as the case may be.

8 ‘‘(e) EXCEEDING ALLOCATION TOTALS.—Whenever

9 any Committee of the House of Representatives exceeds

10 its allocation of aggregate 2-year mandate authority under

11 subsection (b)(1), any Member of the House of Represent12 atives may offer a bill in the House (which shall be highly

13 privileged, unamendable, and debateable for 30 minutes)

14 which shall only prohibit the issuance of mandates by any

15 agency under the jurisdiction of that committee for the

16 fiscal years covered by that allocation until that committee

17 eliminates its breach.

18 ‘‘SEC. 324. ANALYSIS OF MANDATES COSTS BY CONGRES19 SIONAL BUDGET OFFICE.

20 ‘‘CBO shall prepare for each bill or resolution of a

21 public character reported by any committee of the House

22 of Representatives or the Senate (except the Committee

23 on Appropriations of each House), and submit to such

24 committee—
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1 ‘‘(1) an estimate of the costs which would be in2 curred by States and local governments in carrying

3 out or complying with such bill or resolution in the

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

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

6 together with the basis of each such estimate; and

7 ‘‘(2) a comparison of the estimate of costs de8 scribed in paragraph (1) with any available esti9 mates of costs made by such committee or by any

10 Federal agency.

11 ‘‘SEC. 325. DEFINITIONS.

12 ‘‘As used in this part:

13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘CBO’ refers to the Director of

14 the Congressional Budget Office.

15 ‘‘(2) The term ‘OMB’ refers to the Director of

16 the Office of Management and Budget.

17 ‘‘(3) The term ‘costs’ when referring to ‘man18 dates’ means the direct cost to States and local gov19 ernments of complying with Federal mandates.

20 ‘‘(4) The term ‘direct costs’ means (recognizing

21 that direct costs are not the only costs associated

22 with Federal mandates) all expenditures occurring

23 as a direct result of complying with Federal man24 dates, except those applying to the military or agen25 cy organization, management, and personnel.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL BUDGET SUBMISSIONS.

2 Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, is

3 amended by adding at the end the following new para4 graph:

5 ‘‘(29) a mandate authority budget analysis of

6 the aggregate direct cost to States and local govern7 ments of complying with all current and proposed

8 Federal mandates and proposals for complying with

9 section 323 of the Congressional Budget Act of

10 1974 for the budget year and the outyears.’’

11 SEC. 4. ESTIMATION AND DISCLOSURE OF COSTS OF FED12 ERAL MANDATES.

13 (a) COSTS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—

14 Chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, popularly known

15 as the ‘‘Regulatory Flexibility Act’’, is amended—

16 (1) by adding at the end of section 603 the fol17 lowing:

18 ‘‘(d) Each initial regulatory flexibility analysis for a

19 proposed rule that establishes or implements a new Fed20 eral mandate shall also contain a description of the nature

21 and amount of monetary costs that will be incurred by

22 State and local governments in complying with the Federal

23 mandate.’’;

24 (2) in section 604(a)—

25 (A) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘and’’

26 after the semicolon;
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1 (B) in paragraph (3) by striking the period

2 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (C) by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(4) in the case of an analysis for a rule that

5 establishes or implements a new Federal mandate, a

6 statement of the nature and amount of monetary

7 costs that will be incurred by State and local govern8 ments in complying with the Federal mandate.’’; and

9 (3) in section 607 by inserting before the period

10 the following: ‘‘, except that estimates of monetary

11 costs under sections 603(d) and 604(a)(4) shall only

12 be in the form of a numerical description’’.

13 (b) AGENCY REPORTS.—Each agency that under

14 chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, prepares an ini15 tial regulatory flexibility analysis for a proposed rule that

16 establishes or implements a new Federal mandate shall at

17 the same time submit to each House of Congress and to

18 CBO and OMB a cost estimate and cost benefit analysis

19 of any new Federal mandate that would have an aggregate

20 direct cost to State and local governments of at least

21 $10,000,000 for any fiscal year.

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