Description:
S. 2842 would authorize the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to levy civil penalties on opioid treatment programs and products that make false or deceptive claims regarding their cost, price, efficacy, performance, benefit, risk, or safety. Under current law, the FTC already has the authority to prohibit such claims but does not have the authority to levy civil penalties. The bill also would authorize state attorneys general, or other state officials, to bring civil actions for violations such deceptive claims.
Using information from the FTC, CBO estimates that implementing S. 2842 would have no significant effect on the agency’s administrative costs because the bill would not expand the scope of the FTC’s enforcement authorities.
S. 2842 would allow the FTC to levy civil penalties (which are recorded in the budget as revenues) to enforce the prohibition; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any increase in revenues would not be significant because we expect that few entities would be affected. Enacting S. 2842 would not affect direct spending.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 2842 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
S. 2842 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
