Description:
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3380 would have no significant cost to the federal government. Enacting the bill could affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any effects would be insignificant. We estimate that enacting H.R. 3380 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 3380 would broaden the coverage of current laws relating to the illegal importation of controlled substances. As a result, the government might be able to pursue cases that it otherwise would not be able to prosecute. CBO expects that the bill would apply to a relatively small number of offenders, however, so any increase in costs for law enforcement, court proceedings, or prison operations would not be significant. Any such costs would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Because those prosecuted and convicted under H.R. 3380 could be subject to criminal fines, the federal government might collect additional fines if the legislation is enacted. Criminal fines are recorded as revenues, deposited in the Crime Victims Fund, and later spent without further appropriation action. CBO expects that any additional revenues and subsequent direct spending would not be significant because the legislation would probably affect only a small number of cases.
H.R. 3380 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.
On September 28, 2015, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 32, the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015, as reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 17, 2015. The language for both pieces of legislation is similar and CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects are the same.
