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tunity, and other public policy goals shall not apply
to the first and second accounting statements sub-
mitted under this section.
SEC. 5. NOTICE AND COMMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Before submitting an accounting
statement and the associated report to Congress under
section 4, and before preparing final guidelines under sec-
tion 6, the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget shall—
(1) provide public notice and an opportunity of
at least 60 days for submission of comments on the
statement and report or guidelines, respectively; and
(2) consult with the Director of the Congres-
sional Budget Office on the statement and report or
guidelines, respectively.
(b) APPENDIX.—After consideration of the com-
ments, the Director shall include an appendix to the report
or guidelines, respectively, addressing the public comments
and peer review comments under section 7.
(c) AVAILABILITY OF PEER REVIEW COMMENTS.—
To ensure openness, the Director shall make all final peer
review comments available in their entirety to the public.
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SEC. 6. GUIDELINES FROM THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT
AND BUDGET.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget, in consultation with the
Council of Economic Advisers, shall issue guidelines to
agencies to standardize—
(1) most plausible measures of costs and bene-
fits;
(2) the means of gathering information used to
prepare accounting statements under this Act, in-
cluding information required for impact analyses re-
quired under section 4(b)(1); and
(3) the format of information provided for ac-
counting statements, including summary tables.
(b) REVIEW.—The Director shall review submissions
from the agencies to ensure consistency with the guide-
lines under this section.
SEC. 7. PEER REVIEW.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall arrange for two or more
persons that have nationally recognized expertise in regu-
latory analysis and regulatory accounting and that are
independent of and external to the Government, to provide
peer review of each accounting statement and associated
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report under section 4 and the guidelines under section
6 before the statement, report, or guidelines are final.
(b) WRITTEN COMMENTS.—The peer review under
this section shall provide written comments to the Director
in a timely manner. The Director shall use the peer review
comments in preparing the final statements, associated re-
ports, and guidelines.
(c) FACA.—Peer review under this section shall not
be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5
U.S.C. App.).
(d) BALANCE AND INDEPENDENCE.—The Director
shall ensure that—
(1) the persons that provide peer review under
subsection (a) are fairly balanced with respect to the
points of view represented;
(2) no person that provides peer review under
subsection (a) has a conflict of interest that is rel-
evant to the functions to be performed in the review;
and
(3) the comments provided by those persons—
(A) are not inappropriately influenced by
any special interest; and
(B) are the result of independent judg-
ment.
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SEC. 8. SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO CERTAIN FEDERAL
BANKING AGENCIES AND MONETARY POLICY.
(a) TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF DI-
RECTOR.—The head of each Federal banking agency (as
that term is defined in section 3(z) of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(z)) and the National Cred-
it Union Administration, and not the Director, shall exer-
cise all authority and carry out all duties otherwise vested
under this Act in the Director with respect to that agency,
other than the authority and duty to submit accounting
statements and reports under section 4(a). The head of
each such agency shall submit to the Director all estimates
and other information required by this Act to be included
in such statements and reports with respect to that agen-
cy.
(b) EXCLUSION OF MONETARY POLICY.—No provi-
sion of this Act shall apply to any matter relating to mone-
tary policy that is proposed or promulgated by the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the Fed-
eral Open Market Committee.
Passed the House of Representatives July 26, 1999.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.