Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on April 30, 2014
H.R. 4316 would require the Secretary of the Interior to submit a report to the Congress each year detailing federal government expenditures for lawsuits brought under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bill also would require the Secretary to create a publicly available database that would include information regarding each lawsuit brought under ESA.
Based on information from the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) regarding the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that preparing the annual report for the Congress would have no significant effect on the federal budget. CBO also estimates that constructing the database required under the bill would cost roughly $150,000, based on information provided by USFWS, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. We estimate that any costs to update and maintain the database would be insignificant in any year.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 4316 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
