Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on July 17, 2013
H.R. 1582 would require that before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalizes any energy-related rule with an estimated regulatory cost of more than $1 billion, including indirect costs, EPA must submit a report to the Congress detailing the rule’s potential costs and other impacts on jobs and gasoline prices. The legislation also would require the Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with other agencies, to prepare an independent analysis of those rules to determine if they would adversely affect the economy. EPA would be prohibited from finalizing any rule that DOE determines would have significant adverse effects to the economy.
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1582 would cost $35 million over the 2014-2018 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting H.R. 1582 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO’s estimate is based on information from EPA about the anticipated number of energy-related rules that would be subject to the requirements under this bill over the next five years. CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1582 would not have a significant impact on spending by EPA because most of the analysis that it would need to complete under H.R. 1582 will already be conducted to meet similar reporting requirements under existing Executive Orders. CBO estimates, however, that DOE would need additional appropriations of about $7 million annually to meet new and expanded reporting requirements under H.R. 1582. Those costs would cover staff and support costs for about five studies per year that would be similar in scope to recent DOE analyses of proposed energy legislation. That estimate is based on information from the Energy Information Administration, the organization within DOE that would be responsible for completing the analyses and reports.
H.R. 1582 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
