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Accountability and Federal Mandates: Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

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... or restricted their authority in some fashion (e.g., USA PATRIOT Act of ... GAO hosted a symposium on UMRA and federal mandates issues on January 26, 2005. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Accountability and Federal Mandates: Unfunded Mandates Reform Act


1
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Presentation for
  • The Government and Nonprofit Sector of the
    American Accounting Association and
  • The Kennedy School of Government
  • April 1, 2005
  • Joseph Santiago
  • Senior Analyst, Strategic Issues,
  • U.S. Government Accountability Office

2
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Background
  • The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA)
    was enacted to address concerns about federal
    statutes and regulations that require nonfederal
    parties to expend resources without federal
    funding to cover the costs
  • UMRA generates information about the nature and
    size of potential federal mandates in proposed
    legislation and regulations It does not
    prohibit unfunded mandates
  • Federal mandates can be intergovernmental (on
    state, local, and tribal governments) or private
    sector (on other parties, including individuals)
  • Title I of UMRA focuses on the legislative
    process, and title II focuses on the regulatory
    process

3
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Objectives of the May 2004 GAO report for Senator
    Voinovich
  • Describe the general procedures for identifying
    federal mandates under UMRA
  • Identify statutes and rules that were identified
    as containing federal mandates under UMRA
  • Provide examples of statutes and rules that were
    not identified as containing federal mandates,
    but affected parties might perceive as such

4
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Figure 1 Steps Proposed Legislation Must Pass
    Through

Provision is contained in authorizing legislation
reported by an authorizing committee and not
added after initial CBO UMRA review.
Automatic CBO Review
Provision is not one of seven UMRA exclusions.
Provision is an enforceable duty on state, local
or tribal governments or the private sector, and
it is not an UMRA exception.
Direct cost estimate is feasible.
Direct cost estimate for all provisions in
legislation meets or exceeds threshold.
5
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Procedures for Identifying Mandates
  • There are two main ways provisions would not be
    identified and/or trigger UMRAs requirements
  • Some statutes and rules may be enacted or issued
    via procedures that do not trigger UMRA reviews
  • Legislative examples include provisions in
    appropriations bills or bills going directly to
    the floor and also amendments added after the
    initial CBO UMRA review
  • Regulatory examples include provisions in rules
    issued by independent regulatory agencies or in
    final rules issued without a prior proposed rule
  • Even if reviewed, UMRA exclusions, definitional
    exceptions, or cost estimation limitations and
    thresholds may apply

6
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Exclusions and Exemptions in Coverage
  • Examples include provisions that
  • Enforce constitutional rights of individuals
  • Establish or enforce statutory rights that
    prohibit discrimination
  • Are necessary for national security
  • Impose enforceable duties that are conditions of
    federal financial assistance
  • Impose enforceable duties that arise from
    participation in other voluntary federal programs
  • Additional restrictions in coverage of rules
    e.g. rules issued by independent agencies,
    exclusion of actions reducing revenues

7
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Triggers
  • Direct costs in legislation must meet or exceed
    UMRAs thresholds (in 1996 dollars, adjusted
    annually for inflation)
  • Intergovernmental 50 million in any of the
    first 5 fiscal years the mandate is in effect
  • Direct costs include any amounts that governments
    are prohibited from raising in revenues
  • Private sector 100 million in first 5 fiscal
    years
  • For regulations to trigger UMRA, the potential
    mandate must require 100 million or more in
    expenditures in any 1 year

8
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Mandates covered by the Act in 2001-2002
  • Few statutes and rules were identified as
    containing federal mandates at or above UMRAs
    cost thresholds
  • CBO identified 5 of the 377 statutes enacted
    during 2001 and 2002
  • Federal agencies identified 9 of the 122 major
    final rules published during 2001 and 2002
  • Each of the 5 statutes and 9 rules contained
    private sector mandates, and 1 rule (arsenic in
    drinking water) also contained an
    intergovernmental mandate
  • There was some evidence that UMRA had an indirect
    effect helping to hinder mandates in legislation

9
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Other Statutes and Rules With Nonfederal Impacts
  • At least 43 other statutes and 65 other rules
    from the 2-year period resulted in new costs or
    other negative financial impacts on affected
    nonfederal parties
  • For 24 of those statutes and 26 of the rules, the
    estimated direct costs/expenditures did not meet
    or exceed UMRAs thresholds
  • The remaining statutes most often did not trigger
    UMRA because UMRA did not require a CBO review
    prior to their enactment
  • The remaining rules most often did not trigger
    UMRA because they were issued by independent
    agencies
  • Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the breakdown of our
    findings

10
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Figure 2 How Certain Statutes Were Treated Under
    UMRA

Source CBO
11
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Figure 3 How Final Rules Were Treated Under UMRA

10 were or should have been identified as
containing federal mandates at or above UMRAs
threshold
28 did not contain federal mandates at or above
UMRAs threshold but imposed significant impacts
on nonfederal parties
84 did not contain federal mandates at or above
UMRAs threshold and did not impose significant
impacts on nonfederal parties
Source GAO
12
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Analysis of Statutes and Final Rules
  • Some statutes and rules that did not trigger UMRA
    appeared to have potential financial impacts on
    nonfederal parties similar to those that
    triggered UMRA
  • Among 10 such examples of statutes in the report
  • 3 imposed new requirements and standards on state
    and local governments (e.g., Help America Vote
    Act of 2002)
  • 2 preempted state and local laws and/or
    restricted their authority in some fashion (e.g.,
    USA PATRIOT Act of 2001)
  • 1 potentially impacted tax revenues (Economic
    Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001)

13
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Analysis of Statutes and Final Rules (continued)
  • Among 29 such examples of rules in the report
  • 5 reduced the level of federal payments to
    nonfederal parties by more than 100 million in
    any year (e.g., HHS final rule on revision to
    Medicaid upper payment limit requirements)
  • 2 included voluntary options that might increase
    Medicaid costs to states by over 125 million in
    some years (e.g., HHS final rule on new
    provisions regarding Medicaid program and managed
    care)
  • 1 rule had estimated indirect costs of 103
    billion over 50 years for actions that might be
    taken based on its standards (EPA rule on
    dangerous levels of lead in housing and
    child-occupied facilities)

14
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Conclusions
  • In certain circumstances, UMRA may have served to
    highlight mandate costs and may have helped to
    discourage or limit federal mandates
  • However, many actions with significant costs were
    not covered.
  • Raises the question of whether UMRAs procedures,
    definitions, and exclusions adequately capture
    and subject to scrutiny federal statutory and
    regulatory actions that might impose significant
    financial burdens on affected nonfederal parties.

15
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Senator Voinovich requested additional work by
    GAO on federal mandates issues
  • Consult with a diverse group of knowledgeable
    parties familiar with the act and report on the
    most significant strengths and weaknesses of UMRA
    as the framework for addressing federal mandates
    issues.
  • For the strengths and/or weaknesses most
    frequently identified report, to the extent
    possible, on
  • The level of agreement on the significance of the
    issue
  • Potential options for addressing the weaknesses
    and reinforcing the strengths, and
  • The level of priority for action.

16
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • To address the objectives
  • GAO sought input on UMRA and federal mandates
    issues from organizations and individuals
    representing a variety of viewpoints within the
    academic, business, federal agency, public
    interest advocacy group, and state and local
    government.
  • GAO hosted a symposium on UMRA and federal
    mandates issues on January 26, 2005.
  • The report is currently being drafted.
  • The final product will be delivered to Senator
    Voinovich shortly.

17
Accountability and Federal MandatesUnfunded
Mandates Reform Act
  • Contact information
  • The full May 2004 report (report number
    GAO-04-637) can be found at www.gao.gov
  • For more information contact Orice Williams,
    Acting Director, Strategic Issues, at (202)
    512-5837 or williamso_at_gao.gov or Tim Bober,
    Assistant Director, Strategic Issues, at (202)
    512-4432 or bobert_at_gao.gov
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