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Brief Comparison of Cost Estimates for Mandates as Prepared by CBO and by Federal Agencies for Selected Regulatory Rules 1 (May 2011)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo08024 and id is 1 raw text is: CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director U.S. Congress Washington, DC 20515 May 20, 2011 Honorable James Lankford Chairman Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform Committee on Oversight and Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter is in response to your request that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) compare the cost estimates prepared by federal agencies for selected regulations that contain federal mandates with any cost estimates that CBO prepared when those mandates were being considered by the Congress. CBO reviewed 13 regulations in all: the 5 listed in your letter dated March 23, 2011, and 8 others identified by your staff (see Attachment 1). The cost estimates that CBO prepares when mandates are being considered by the Congress typically are not directly comparable to the estimates that federal agencies prepare in the process of developing regulations for implementing those mandates. The lack of comparability arises in part because of the different requirements CBO and federal agencies face under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) and in part because CBO and federal agencies examine mandates at different stages in the legislative and regulatory process. Further, for 5 of the 13 regulations considered here, the statutory authority for those regulations predated UMRA's enactment, so CBO never produced estimates of the costs of those mandates. However, when CBO and the federal agencies issuing regulations reviewed similar mandates, their estimates of costs were generally consistent with each other. Responsibilities of CBO and Regulatory Agencies Under UMRA CBO and federal agencies of the executive branch have different roles under UMRA. Titles I and II of the act specify the requirements imposed by that law on CBO and federal agencies to assess the effect of proposed mandates on state, local, and tribal governments and on the private sector. CBO's analysis of mandate costs ends when it determines what the aggregate costs of all the www.cbo.gov

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