Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on July 30, 2013
S. 269 would establish uniform enforcement policies and procedures among federal statutes that govern the regulation of commercial fishing. The bill also would expand the efforts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing internationally. Finally, the bill would amend the Tuna Conventions Act of 1950 to implement the Antigua Convention, an international fishing agreement signed by the United States in 2003.
Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing S. 269 would cost $31 million over the 2014-2018 period. Enacting the legislation could increase revenues (from civil and criminal penalties) and associated direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that the net effects of those collections and subsequent spending on future budget deficits would be negligible for each year.
CBO has not reviewed title IV of the bill for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates. Section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) excludes from the application of that act any legislative provisions that are necessary for the ratification or implementation of international treaty obligations. CBO has determined that title IV falls within that exclusion. The remaining provisions of S. 269 contain no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
