Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed state and federal attempts to deal with legislative mandates imposed on lower levels of government, focusing on: (1) their processes for estimating the mandates' cost impacts; and (2) states' reimbursement practices for such costs.
GAO found that: (1) although the cost estimates improved congressional understanding of state and local costs, they had little effect on five of eight bills it reviewed because legislators were more concerned with programs and policy issues than with state and local costs; (2) at the state level, cost estimates had a significant impact if the states prepared them early in the legislative process; (3) 14 states reimbursed local governments for state-mandated costs; (4) four of seven of those states deterred legislators from passing unfunded mandates through reimbursement requirements; (5) in three states, reimbursement requirements had little impact on legislative mandates; and (6) only one state had appropriated sufficient funding to defray local costs. GAO believes that the federal government could focus attention on the impact of federal legislation on state and local costs by providing estimates for key bills prior to full committee reports and biennial reports to increase legislators' awareness of mandated costs.
