Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on March 27, 2012
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2299 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 for each year.
H.R. 2299 would establish new federal crimes relating to the transporting of minors across state lines without parental notification to obtain abortions. Because the legislation would establish new offenses, the government would be able to pursue cases that it otherwise would not be able to prosecute. We expect that H.R. 2299 would apply to a relatively small number of offenders, 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. 2299 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. CBO expects that any additional revenues and direct spending would not be significant because of the small number of cases likely to be affected.
H.R. 2299 contains an intergovernmental and a private-sector mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by requiring doctors, in certain cases, to provide parental notification in person or by certified mail before performing an abortion on a minor who is not a resident of the state in which the abortion would be performed. CBO estimates the cost for doctors in publicly owned or private medical facilities to comply with that mandate would be minimal. The bill also contains a private-sector mandate by prohibiting the transport of a minor across state lines with the intent to obtain an abortion in a state that does not require parental notification or consent. CBO estimates that the aggregate costs of the intergovernmental and private-sector mandates would be small and well below the annual thresholds established in UMRA ($73 million for intergovernmental mandates and $146 million for private-sector mandates in 2012, adjusted annually for inflation).
