Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on March 4, 2015
S. 558 would require an organization that raises funds for a Presidential library to disclose the sources and amounts of such funds. Such organizations would have to identify any contributors of $200 or more in a calendar quarter while the President is in office, as well as during the period before the federal government takes possession of the library or the President leaves office, whichever is later. Fundraising organizations would be required to provide this information to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The bill would direct NARA to make this information freely available on the Internet. Finally, the legislation would establish criminal penalties, including fines, for violations of its provisions.
CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant effect on NARA’s administrative costs, which are subject to appropriation. We also estimate that any increases in federal spending to enforce penalties related to the laws concerning donations to Presidential libraries would be insignificant.
Because those prosecuted and convicted under S. 558 could be subject to criminal and civil fines, enacting the legislation could increase federal revenues and associated direct spending. However, CBO estimates that such effects would not be significant in any year because of the small number of cases likely to be involved. Because the legislation could affect direct spending and revenues, however, pay-as-you-go procedures apply.
S. 558 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
S. 558 would impose a private-sector mandate, as defined in UMRA, by requiring organizations established for the purpose of raising funds for Presidential libraries or their related facilities to submit information to NARA. The number of such organizations is small, and the cost to submit reports would be minimal. CBO estimates, therefore, that the direct cost of the mandate would fall well below the annual threshold established by UMRA for private-sector mandates ($154 million in 2015, adjusted annually for inflation).
