Description:
As reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on February 7, 2012
S. 1925 would authorize the appropriation of $660 million annually over the 2012-2016 period for programs in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat violence against women. CBO estimates that the bill also would authorize the appropriation of $7 million over the 2012-2017 period for other programs relating to preventing violence against women. In addition, S. 1925 would make available certain nonimmigrant visas that were unused in previous years.
Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts (and accounting for the amounts already appropriated for those programs in fiscal year 2012), CBO estimates that implementing S. 1925 would cost about $2.2 billion over the 2012-2017 period. Enacting the legislation would affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you go procedures apply. CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase direct spending by $108 million (including $6 million that would be classified as off-budget spending) and decrease revenues by $3 million over the 2012-2022 period.
CBO has not reviewed section 3 of S. 1925 for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates. 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 discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or disability. CBO has determined that the section falls within that exclusion.
Other provisions of S. 1925 would impose no intergovernmental mandates as defined in UMRA. The bill would, however, impose private-sector mandates as defined in the UMRA on international marriage brokers and certain people who supervise persons awaiting judicial proceedings. 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).
