IIB
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 409
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 25, 1999
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs
AN ACT
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
HR 409 RFS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Financial As-
sistance Management Improvement Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) there are over 600 different Federal finan-
cial assistance programs to implement domestic pol-
icy;
(2) while the assistance described in paragraph
(1) has been directed at critical problems, some Fed-
eral administrative requirements may be duplicative,
burdensome, or conflicting, thus impeding cost-effec-
tive delivery of services at the local level;
(3) the Nation’s State, local, and tribal govern-
ments and private, nonprofit organizations are deal-
ing with increasingly complex problems which re-
quire the delivery and coordination of many kinds of
services; and
(4) streamlining and simplification of Federal
financial assistance administrative procedures and
reporting requirements will improve the delivery of
services to the public.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) improve the effectiveness and performance
of Federal financial assistance programs;
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(2) simplify Federal financial assistance appli-
cation and reporting requirements;
(3) improve the delivery of services to the pub-
lic; and
(4) facilitate greater coordination among those
responsible for delivering such services.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et.
(2) FEDERAL
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal
agency’’ means any agency as defined under section
551(1) of title 5, United States Code.
(3) FEDERAL
FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE.—The
term ‘‘Federal financial assistance’’ has the meaning
given that term in section 7501(a)(5) of title 31,
United States Code, under which Federal financial
assistance is provided, directly or indirectly, to a
non-Federal entity.
(4) LOCAL
GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘local
government’’ means a political subdivision of a State
that is a unit of general local government (as de-
fined under section 7501(a)(11) of title 31, United
States Code);
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(5) NON-FEDERAL
ENTITY.—The term ‘‘non-
Federal entity’’ means a State, local government, or
nonprofit organization.
(6) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means any corporation,
trust, association, cooperative, or other organization
that—
(A) is operated primarily for scientific,
educational, service, charitable, or similar pur-
poses in the public interest;
(B) is not organized primarily for profit;
and
(C) uses net proceeds to maintain, im-
prove, or expand the operations of the organiza-
tion.
(7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any
State of the United States, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-
lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands, and any instrumen-
tality thereof, any multi-State, regional, or interstate
entity which has governmental functions, and any
Indian Tribal Government.
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(8) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘tribal
government’’ means an Indian tribe, as that term is
defined in section 7501(a)(9) of title 31, United
States Code.
(9) UNIFORM
ADMINISTRATIVE
RULE.—The
term ‘‘uniform administrative rule’’ means a govern-
ment-wide uniform rule for any generally applicable
requirement established to achieve national policy
objectives that applies to multiple Federal financial
assistance programs across Federal agencies.
SEC. 5. DUTIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal agency
shall develop and implement a plan that—
(1) streamlines and simplifies the application,
administrative, and reporting procedures for Federal
financial assistance programs administered by the
agency;
(2) demonstrates active participation in the
interagency process under section 6(a)(2);
(3) demonstrates appropriate agency use, or
plans for use, of the common application and report-
ing system developed under section 6(a)(1);
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(4) designates a lead agency official for carry-
ing out the responsibilities of the agency under this
Act;
(5) allows applicants to electronically apply for,
and report on the use of, funds from the Federal fi-
nancial assistance program administered by the
agency in a manner not inconsistent with the Gov-
ernment Paperwork Elimination Act (title XVII of
Public Law 105–277);
(6) ensures recipients of Federal financial as-
sistance provide timely, complete, and high quality
information in response to Federal reporting re-
quirements; and
(7) establishes specific annual goals and objec-
tives to further the purposes of this Act and meas-
ure annual performance in achieving those goals and
objectives, which may be done as part of the agen-
cy’s annual planning responsibilities under the provi-
sions enacted in the Government Performance and
Results Act of 1993 (Public Law 103–62).
(b) EXTENSION.—If one or more agencies are unable
to comply with the requirements of subsection (a), the Di-
rector shall report to the Committee on Governmental Af-
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Government Re-
form of the House of Representatives the reasons for non-
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compliance. After consultation with such committees, the
Director may extend the period for plan development and
implementation for each noncompliant agency for up to
12 months.
(c) COMMENT
AND CONSULTATION
ON AGENCY
PLANS.—
(1) COMMENT.—Each agency shall publish the
plan developed under subsection (a) in the Federal
Register and shall receive public comment of the
plan through the Federal Register and other means
(including electronic means). To the maximum ex-
tent practicable, each Federal agency shall hold pub-
lic forums on the plan.
(2) CONSULTATION.—The lead official des-
ignated under subsection (a)(4) shall consult with
representatives of non-Federal entities during devel-
opment and implementation of the plan. Consulta-
tion with representatives of State, local, and tribal
governments shall be in accordance with section 204
of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
(Public Law 104–4; 2 U.S.C. 1534).
(d) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—Each Federal agency
shall submit the plan developed under subsection (a) to
the Director and Congress and report annually thereafter
on the implementation of the plan and performance of the
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agency in meeting the goals and objectives specified under
subsection (a)(7). Such report may be included as part
of any of the general management reports required under
law.
(e) DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVEL-
OPMENT.—(1) Not later than 18 months after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Department of Housing
and Urban Development shall develop and implement a
plan that establishes policies and procedures regarding an
applicant who has submitted an application for Federal
financial assistance to the agency that includes a technical
deficiency under which—
(A) the applicant shall be notified promptly of
the deficiency and permitted to submit the appro-
priate information to correct the deficiency within 7
days of receipt of notice by the applicant of the defi-
ciency, notwithstanding that the deadline for sub-
mission of an application has expired;
(B) the application shall continue to be consid-
ered by the agency during the period before the ap-
plicant is notified and the 7-day period during which
the applicant is permitted to correct the deficiency;
and
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(C) if the applicant corrects the deficiency with-
in the 7-day period, the agency shall continue to
consider the application.
(2) A deficiency (including, but not limited to, a
misfiling, error, or omission) may be considered technical
for purposes of this subsection notwithstanding a material
impact on the eligibility of an applicant or proposed activ-
ity for requested funding. A technical deficiency for pur-
poses of this subsection does not include the failure to sub-
mit a substantially complete application by a deadline pub-
lished in the Federal Register.
SEC. 6. DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consultation with
agency heads, and representatives of non-Federal entities,
shall direct, coordinate and assist Federal agencies in es-
tablishing:
(1)(A) a common application or set of common
applications, wherein a non-Federal entity can apply
for Federal financial assistance from multiple Fed-
eral financial assistance programs that serve similar
purposes and are administered by different Federal
agencies;
(B) a common system, including electronic
processes, wherein a non-Federal entity can apply
for, manage, and report on the use of funding from
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multiple Federal financial assistance programs that
serve similar purposes and are administered by dif-
ferent Federal agencies; and
(C) uniform administrative rules for Federal fi-
nancial assistance programs across different Federal
agencies.
(2) An interagency process for addressing—
(A) ways to streamline and simplify Fed-
eral financial assistance administrative proce-
dures and reporting requirements for non-Fed-
eral entities;
(B) improved interagency and intergovern-
mental coordination of information collection
and sharing of data pertaining to Federal fi-
nancial assistance programs, including appro-
priate information sharing consistent with the
provisions in the Privacy Act of 1974 (Public
Law 93–579); and
(C) improvements in the timeliness, com-
pleteness, and quality of information received
by Federal agencies from recipients of Federal
financial assistance.
(b) LEAD AGENCY AND WORKING GROUPS.—The Di-
rector may designate a lead agency to assist the Director
in carrying out the responsibilities under this section. The
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Director may use interagency working groups to assist in
carrying out such responsibilities.
(c) REVIEW
OF PLANS
AND REPORTS.—Agencies
shall submit to the Director, upon his request and for his
review, information and other reporting regarding their
implementation of this Act.
(d) EXEMPTIONS.—The Director may exempt any
Federal agency or Federal financial assistance program
from the requirements of this Act if the Director deter-
mines that the Federal agency does not have a significant
number of Federal financial assistance programs. The Di-
rector shall maintain a list of exempted agencies which
will be available to the public through the Internet site
of the Office of Management and Budget.
(e) REPORT ON RECOMMENDED CHANGES IN LAW.—
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Director shall submit to Congress a report
containing recommendations for changes in law to improve
the effectiveness and performance of Federal financial as-
sistance programs.
SEC. 7. EVALUATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director (or the lead agency
designated under section 6(b)) shall contract with the Na-
tional Academy of Public Administration to evaluate the
effectiveness of this Act. Not later than 4 years after the
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date of the enactment of this Act, the evaluation shall be
submitted to the lead agency, the Director, and Congress.
The evaluation shall be performed with input from State,
local, and tribal governments, and nonprofit organizations.
(b) CONTENTS.—The evaluation under subsection (a)
shall—
(1) assess the effectiveness of this Act in meet-
ing the purposes of this Act and make specific rec-
ommendations to further the implementation of this
Act;
(2) evaluate actual performance of each agency
in achieving the goals and objectives stated in agen-
cy plans;
(3) assess the level of coordination among the
Director, Federal agencies, State, local, and tribal
governments, and nonprofit organizations in imple-
menting this Act.
SEC. 8. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the
Director or any Federal agency from gathering, or to ex-
empt any recipient of Federal financial assistance from
providing, information that is required for review of the
financial integrity or quality of services of an activity as-
sisted by a Federal financial assistance program.
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SEC. 9. JUDICIAL REVIEW.
There shall be no judicial review of compliance or
noncompliance with any of the provisions of this Act. No
provision of this Act shall be construed to create any right
or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any
administrative or judicial action.
SEC. 10. STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed as a means
to deviate from the statutory requirements relating to ap-
plicable Federal financial assistance programs.
SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE AND SUNSET.
This Act shall take effect on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act and shall cease to be effective five years
after such date of enactment.
SEC. 12. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING FEDERAL
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
It is the sense of the Congress that Federal agencies,
in providing Federal financial assistance for the purpose
of economic development, should focus primarily on com-
munities with high poverty and unemployment rates.
Passed the House of Representatives February 24,
1999.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.