II

Calendar No. 386

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1642

[Report No. 105–194]

To improve the effectiveness and performance of Federal financial assistance

programs, simplify Federal financial assistance application and reporting

requirements, and improve the delivery of services to the public.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 12, 1998

Mr. GLENN (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and

Mr. AKAKA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

MAY 22, 1998

Reported by Mr. THOMPSON, without amendment

A BILL

To improve the effectiveness and performance of Federal

financial assistance programs, simplify Federal financial

assistance application and reporting requirements, and

improve the delivery of services to the public.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Financial As3 sistance Management Improvement Act of 1998’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) there are over 600 different Federal finan7 cial assistance programs to implement domestic pol8 icy;

9 (2) while the assistance described in paragraph

10 (1) has been directed at critical problems, some Fed11 eral administrative requirements may be duplicative,

12 burdensome or conflicting, thus impeding cost-effec13 tive delivery of services at the local level;

14 (3) State, local, and tribal governments and pri15 vate, nonprofit organizations are dealing with in16 creasingly complex problems that require the deliv17 ery and coordination of many kinds of services; and

18 (4) streamlining and simplification of Federal

19 financial assistance administrative procedures and

20 reporting requirements will improve the delivery of

21 services to the public.

22 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

23 The purposes of this Act are to—

24 (1) improve the effectiveness and performance

25 of Federal financial assistance programs;
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1 (2) simplify Federal financial assistance appli2 cation and reporting requirements;

3 (3) improve the delivery of services to the pub4 lic; and

5 (4) facilitate greater coordination among those

6 responsible for delivering such services.

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

8 In this Act:

9 (1) COMMON RULE.—The term ‘‘common rule’’

10 means a government-wide uniform rule for any gen11 erally applicable requirement established to achieve

12 national policy objectives that applies to multiple

13 Federal financial assistance programs across Federal

14 agencies.

15 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means

16 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg17 et.

18 (3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal

19 agency’’ means any agency as defined under section

20 551(1) of title 5, United States Code.

21 (4) FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PRO22 GRAM.—The term ‘‘Federal financial assistance pro23 gram’’ means a domestic assistance program (as de24 fined under section 6101(4) of title 31, United

25 States Code) under which financial assistance is
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1 available, directly or indirectly, to a State, local, or

2 tribal government or a qualified organization to

3 carry out activities consistent with national policy

4 goals.

5 (5) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘local

6 government’’ means—

7 (A) a political subdivision of a State that

8 is a unit of general local government (as de9 fined under section 6501(10) of title 31, United

10 States Code);

11 (B) any combination of political subdivi12 sions described in subparagraph (A); or

13 (C) a local educational agency as defined

14 under section 14101(18) of the Elementary and

15 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

16 8801(18)).

17 (6) QUALIFIED ORGANIZATION.—The term

18 ‘‘qualified organization’’ means a private, nonprofit

19 organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the

20 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that is exempt from

21 taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Reve22 nue Code of 1986.

23 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

24 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,

25 American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
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1 (8) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘tribal

2 government’’ means the governing entity of an In3 dian tribe, as that term is defined in the Indian Self

4 Determination and Education Assistance Act (25

5 U.S.C. 450b).

6 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consultation with

8 agency heads, shall direct, coordinate, and assist Federal

9 agencies in establishing—

10 (1) a uniform application, or set of uniform ap11 plications, to be used by an applicant to apply for

12 assistance from multiple Federal financial assistance

13 programs that serve similar purposes and are ad14 ministered by different Federal agencies;

15 (2) ways to streamline and simplify Federal fi16 nancial assistance administrative procedures and re17 porting requirements for grantees;

18 (3) a uniform system wherein an applicant may

19 apply for, manage, and report on the use of, funding

20 from multiple Federal financial assistance programs

21 across different Federal agencies;

22 (4) a process for applicants to electronically

23 apply for, and report on the use of, funds from Fed24 eral financial assistance programs;
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1 (5) use of common rules for multiple Federal fi2 nancial assistance programs across different Federal

3 agencies;

4 (6) improved interagency and intergovernmental

5 coordination of information collection and sharing of

6 data pertaining to Federal financial assistance pro7 grams, including the development of a release form

8 to be used by grantees to facilitate the sharing of in9 formation across multiple Federal financial assist10 ance programs;

11 (7) a process to strengthen the information re12 sources management capacity of State, local, and

13 tribal governments and qualified organizations per14 taining to the administration of Federal financial as15 sistance programs; and

16 (8) specific annual goals and objectives to fur17 ther the purposes of this Act.

18 (b) ACTIONS CONSISTENT WITH STATUTORY RE19 QUIREMENTS.—The actions taken by the Director under

20 subsection (a) shall be consistent with statutory require21 ments relating to any applicable Federal financial assist22 ance program.

23 (c) LEAD AGENCY AND WORKING GROUPS.—The Di24 rector may designate a lead agency to assist the Director

25 in carrying out the responsibilities under this section. The
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1 Director may use interagency working groups to assist in

2 carrying out such responsibilities.

3 (d) REVIEW OF PLANS AND REPORTS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall—

5 (A) review agency plans and reports devel6 oped under section 6 for adequacy;

7 (B) monitor the annual performance of

8 each agency toward achieving the goals and ob9 jectives stated in the agency plan; and

10 (C) ensure that each agency plan does not

11 diminish standards to measure performance and

12 accountability of financial assistance programs.

13 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the

14 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall re15 port to Congress on implementation of this section.

16 Such a report may be included as part of any of the

17 general management reports required under law.

18 (e) EXEMPTIONS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may exempt

20 any Federal agency from the requirements of this

21 Act if the Director determines that the agency does

22 not have a significant number of Federal financial

23 assistance programs.

24 (2) AGENCIES EXEMPTED.—Not later than No25 vember 1 of each fiscal year, the Director shall sub-
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1 mit to the Committee on Governmental Affairs of

2 the Senate and the Committee on Government Re3 form and Oversight of the House of Representa4 tives—

5 (A) a list of each agency exempted under

6 this subsection in the preceding fiscal year; and

7 (B) an explanation for each such exemp8 tion.

9 (f) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 120 days after the

10 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue

11 guidance to Federal agencies on implementation of the re12 quirements of this Act. Such guidance shall include a

13 statement on the common rules that the Director intends

14 to review and standardize under this Act.

15 SEC. 6. DUTIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after

17 the date of enactment of this Act, each Federal agency

18 shall develop and implement a plan that—

19 (1) streamlines and simplifies the application,

20 administrative, and reporting procedures for each fi21 nancial assistance program administered by the

22 agency;

23 (2) demonstrates active participation in the

24 interagency process required the applicable provi25 sions of section 5(a);
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1 (3) demonstrates agency use, or plans for use,

2 of the uniform application (or set of applications)

3 and system developed under section 5(a) (1) and

4 (3);

5 (4) designates a lead agency official for carry6 ing out the responsibilities of the agency under this

7 Act;

8 (5) allows applicants to electronically apply for,

9 and report on the use of, funds from the Federal fi10 nancial assistance program administered by the

11 agency;

12 (6) strengthens the information resources man13 agement capacity of State, local and tribal govern14 ments and qualified organizations pertaining to the

15 administration of the financial assistance program

16 administered by the agency; and

17 (7) in cooperation with State, local, and tribal

18 governments and qualified organizations, establishes

19 specific annual goals and objectives to further the

20 purposes of this Act and measure annual perform21 ance in achieving those goals and objectives.

22 (b) PLAN CONSISTENT WITH STATUTORY REQUIRE23 MENTS.—Each plan developed and implemented under

24 this section shall be consistent with statutory require-
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1 ments relating to any applicable Federal financial assist2 ance program.

3 (c) COMMENT AND CONSULTATION ON AGENCY

4 PLANS.—

5 (1) COMMENT.—Each Federal agency shall

6 publish the plan developed under subsection (a) in

7 the Federal Register and shall receive public com8 ment on the plan through the Federal Register and

9 other means (including electronic means). To the

10 maximum extent practicable, each Federal agency

11 shall hold public hearings or related public forums

12 on the plan.

13 (2) CONSULTATION.—The lead official des14 ignated under subsection (a)(4) shall consult regu15 larly with representatives of State, local and tribal

16 governments and qualified organizations during de17 velopment of the plan. Consultation with representa18 tives of State, local, and tribal governments shall be

19 in accordance with section 204 of the Unfunded

20 Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1534).

21 (d) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—Each Federal agency

22 shall submit the plan developed under subsection (a) to

23 the Director and Congress and report annually thereafter

24 on the implementation of the plan and performance of the

25 agency in meeting the goals and objectives specified under
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1 subsection (a)(7). Such a report may be included as part

2 of any of the general management reports required under

3 law.

4 SEC. 7. EVALUATION.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director (or the lead agency

6 designated under section 5(c)) shall contract with the Na7 tional Academy of Public Administration to evaluate the

8 effectiveness of this Act. Not later than 4 years after the

9 date of enactment of this Act the evaluation shall be sub10 mitted to the lead agency, the Director, and Congress.

11 (b) CONTENTS.—The evaluation under subsection (a)

12 shall—

13 (1) assess the effectiveness of this Act in meet14 ing the purposes of this Act and make specific rec15 ommendations to further the implementation of this

16 Act;

17 (2) evaluate actual performance of each agency

18 in achieving the goals and objectives stated in agen19 cy plans; and

20 (3) assess the level of coordination and coopera21 tion among the Director, Federal agencies, State,

22 local, and tribal governments, and qualified organi23 zations in implementing this Act.
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1 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE AND SUNSET.

2 This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment

3 of this Act and shall cease to be effective on and after

4 5 years after such date of enactment.

Calendar No. 386

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1642

[Report No. 105–194]

A BILL

To improve the effectiveness and performance of

services to the public.porting requirements, and improve the delivery ofFederal financial assistance application and reFederal financial assistance programs, simplify

MAY 22, 1998

Reported without amendment