Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on May 8, 2012
H.R. 4970 would authorize the appropriation of close to $660 million annually over the 2013-2017 period for programs in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat violence against women. In addition, H.R. 4970 would establish new federal crimes and broaden the coverage of existing crimes relating to violence against women. Finally, the bill would reduce the number of individuals with legal permanent resident (LPR) status, which would effectively decrease direct spending in a number of programs.
Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4970 would cost about $2.2 billion over the 2013-2017 period. Enacting the legislation would affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates that enacting the bill would reduce direct spending by $429 million (including $33 million that would be classified as off-budget savings) and increase revenues by $7 million over the 2013-2022 period.
CBO has not reviewed a provision in section 3 of H.R. 4970 for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates since that provision prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or disability. Section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) excludes from the application of that act any legislative provision that establishes or enforces statutory rights prohibiting such discrimination.
Other provisions of H.R. 4970 would impose no intergovernmental mandates as defined in UMRA. The bill would, however, impose private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA on brokers of international marriage and certain supervisors over persons under official control of the United States. CBO estimates that the cost of those mandates would fall well below the annual threshold established in UMRA ($146 million in 2012, adjusted annually for inflation).
