Summary: GAO evaluated the Sunset Act of 1979, currently pending in Congress, and forecast the effects it would produce. The Act has considerable merit and will result in considerable reforms in oversight by improving Congress' ability to ascertain how well laws are working and to legislate necessary changes. Congress will need to adopt standards for judging programs, acquire information on program operation, and reconcile the two. For the regulatory agencies, periodic program performance reporting requirements would be superior to the planned grading and ranking system. Congress should also reverse the trend toward annual authorizations by extending its use of multiyear funding, and eliminate any reporting requirements which the new legislation will supersede. The reform legislation must include six critical points: a workable review program, statements of objectives and evaluation requirements, a comprehensive review process, expanded coverage of the reauthorization process, a flexible review schedule, and an inventory of Federal programs. For purposes of assigning congressional committees their oversight responsibilities, three approaches are possible, based on budget functions and accounts, laws and regulations, or agencies and commissions. Whichever methodology is adopted, a program inventory should be compiled to provide committees with a common reference point from which they can decide how detailed a level they should reach. In any case, closely related programs should be reviewed together whenever possible. The proposed inventory, which should be more than a guideline, should be developed and maintained by a single agency, probably GAO.
