I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4894 
To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish an alternative metric for 
measuring the net benefits of economic activity, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2021 
Ms. OMAR (for herself, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. 
JAYAPAL, and Ms. BUSH) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the 
Committees on the Budget, Education and Labor, Ways and Means, and 
Financial Services, 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 direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish an alter-
native metric for measuring the net benefits of economic 
activity, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Genuine Progress Indi-
cator Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘GPI Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Commerce (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), 
acting through the Director of the Bureau for Economic 
Analysis, shall establish a metric to be known as the ‘‘gen-
uine progress indicator’’ to measure the economic well- 
being of households, calculated through adjustments to 
gross domestic product that account for positive and nega-
tive economic, environmental, and social factors that con-
tribute to economic activity, including the factors de-
scribed in subsection (b). 
(b) FACTORS.—The genuine progress indicator estab-
lished under subsection (a) shall include the following: 
(1) BENEFITS.—With respect to benefits, the 
total annual economic value of— 
(A) personal consumption expenditures, 
net of investments, and defensive spending; 
(B) the purchase of consumer durables and 
other household durables used for home im-
provement, including appliances, vehicles, and 
solar panels; 
(C) publicly provided goods and services; 
(D) higher education; 
(E) job skills that are essential to an econ-
omy that— 
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(i) is self-sufficient; and 
(ii) addresses ecological scarcities and 
directs resources to sustainable develop-
ment without degrading the environment; 
(F) time spent toward leisure activities; 
(G) unpaid labor, including— 
(i) parenting; 
(ii) volunteering; and 
(iii) time spent on household duties; 
(H) infrastructure, including— 
(i) transportation systems; 
(ii) communication networks; and 
(iii) sewage, water, and electric sys-
tems; and 
(I) ecosystem services with respect to pro-
tected natural areas, including— 
(i) flood control; 
(ii) water purification; 
(iii) pollination of crops; 
(iv) control of pests and invasive 
specifies; 
(v) outdoor recreation; 
(vi) hunting and fishing; 
(vii) harvesting of plants for medicinal 
and edible purposes; 
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(viii) carbon sequestration; and 
(ix) maintenance of biological and ge-
netic diversity. 
(2) COSTS.—With respect to costs, the total an-
nual economic costs of— 
(A) income inequality based on household 
expenditures; 
(B) underemployment and unemployment; 
(C) homelessness; 
(D) domestic abuse; 
(E) violent, property, white-collar, and or-
ganized crime; 
(F) water, air, and noise pollution at the 
household and national level; 
(G) the loss of farmland and productive 
soils, including soil quality degradation; 
(H) the loss of natural wetlands, primary 
forest area, and other at-risk ecosystems; 
(I) high amounts of carbon dioxide and 
other greenhouse gas emissions; 
(J) the depletion of the ozone layer; 
(K) the depletion of nonrenewable sources 
of energy; 
(L) lost leisure time due to traffic conges-
tion; and 
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(M) accidents involving motor vehicles. 
(c) USE OF GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the head of each Federal agency, the President, the 
Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Congress shall, with 
respect to any budgetary reporting and economic fore-
casting involving a measure of the net benefits of economic 
activity, use both the genuine progress indicator estab-
lished pursuant to subsection (a) and gross domestic prod-
uct, including— 
(1) with respect to the Director of the Congres-
sional Budget Office, the report submitted pursuant 
to section 202(e)(1) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 602(e)(1)); 
(2) with respect to the President— 
(A) each budget proposal submitted pursu-
ant to section 1105 of title 31, United States 
Code; and 
(B) each report submitted pursuant to sec-
tion 4 of the Employment Act of 1946 (15 
U.S.C. 1022a); 
(3) with respect to the Chair of the Federal Re-
serve, the report submitted pursuant to section 
225b(b) of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 (12 
U.S.C. 225b(b)); and 
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(4) with respect to Congress— 
(A) each economic report submitted by the 
committee established under section 11 of the 
Employment Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1024); 
and 
(B) each tax investigation report developed 
by the Joint Committee on Taxation pursuant 
to section 8022 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986. 
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
Secretary and the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office shall submit to Congress a report on— 
(1) the development of the genuine progress in-
dicator under subsection (a); 
(2) the cost of such development; and 
(3) the utility of the genuine progress indicator 
with respect to measuring the net benefits of eco-
nomic activity. 
(e) FEDERAL AGENCY DEFINED.—The term ‘‘Fed-
eral agency’’ has the meaning given that term in section 
551 of title 5, United States Code. 
Æ 
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