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GAO-02-888R 1 (2002-07-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaamae0001 and id is 1 raw text is: £ Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 July 15, 2002 The Honorable Patrick H. Wood III Chairman Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Subject: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Compliance With Requirement to Adjust Civil Monetary Penalties for Inflation Dear Mr. Wood: Earlier this year, we initiated a governmentwide review of the implementation of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended (Inflation Adjustment Act).' The Inflation Adjustment Act required each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996, and to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During our review, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of the General Counsel indicated that four of the agency's civil penalties are covered by the act but the agency had not adjusted them for inflation. This report is intended to bring this matter to your attention and to recommend corrective action. FERC Identified Four Civil Penalties That Are Covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act Section 3 of the Inflation Adjustment Act defines a covered civil penalty as any penalty, fine, or other sanction that ... is for a specific monetary amount as provided by Federal law or has a maximum amount provided for by Federal law, and is assessed or enforced by an agency pursuant to Federal law and is assessed or enforced pursuant to an administrative proceeding or a civil action in the Federal courts. FERC's Office of the General Counsel provided us with a list of civil penalties that it considered covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act. Table 1 lists those penalties as well as their maximum penalty amounts, assessment methods, and the dates that the penalties were last set or adjusted. 'The Inflation Adjustment Act is codified at 28 U.S.C. 2461 note. The 1990 act was amended in 1996 by the Debt Collection Improvement Act, which added the requirement for agencies to adjust their civil penalties by regulation (Pub. Law 104-134, Sec. 31001, 110 Stat. 1321-373). GAO-02-888R FERC Penalty Adjustments

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