COST Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1728 To amend title 31, United States Code, to end speculation on the current cost of multilingual services provided by the Federal Government, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 13, 2019 Mr. GRAVES of Missouri introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title 31, United States Code, to end speculation on the current cost of multilingual services provided by the Federal Government, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cost of Services and 4 Translations Act’’ or the ‘‘COST Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6 The purposes of this Act are— 7 (1) to create a new appendix within each agen- 8 cy’s annual performance and accountability report 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1728.IH H1728 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1728 IH detailing any cost associated with providing multi- 1 lingual services, such as verbal, written, or other 2 services in languages other than English; 3 (2) to end speculation on the current cost of 4 providing multilingual services; 5 (3) to provide for more transparency in the 6 Federal Government’s accounting practices, and to 7 determine the effectiveness of agency programs, poli- 8 cies, and procedures; and 9 (4) to provide for more accountability with the 10 use of taxpayer money. 11 SEC. 3. MULTILINGUAL SERVICES ACCOUNTING INFORMA- 12 TION REQUIREMENT. 13 (a) MULTILINGUAL SERVICES ACCOUNTING INFOR- 14 MATION.—Chapter 9 of title 31, United States Code, is 15 amended— 16 (1) in section 902(a)(6)— 17 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 18 paragraph (D); 19 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as 20 subparagraph (F); and 21 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (D) 22 the following: 23 ‘‘(E) effective for each of the fiscal years 24 beginning on or after October 1, 2019, the mul- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1728.IH H1728 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1728 IH tilingual services accounting information of the 1 agency for such fiscal year in accordance with 2 the guidance issued under section 3517 of this 3 title and the procedures of OMB Circular No. 4 A–11, part 6 (as in effect on the date of the en- 5 actment of this subparagraph) and OMB Cir- 6 cular No. A–136 (as in effect on the date of the 7 enactment of this subparagraph); and’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘§ 904. Definitions. 10 ‘‘In this chapter: 11 ‘‘(1) MULTILINGUAL SERVICES.—The term 12 ‘multilingual services’ includes— 13 ‘‘(A) the services provided by interpreters 14 hired by an agency; 15 ‘‘(B) the services provided by an agency 16 associated with assisting agency employees or 17 contractors learn a language other than English 18 that result in additional expenses, wages, or sal- 19 aries, or changes to expenses, wages, or sala- 20 ries, for the agency or agency employees or con- 21 tractors; 22 ‘‘(C) agency preparation, translation, 23 printing, or recordation of documents, records, 24 Web sites, brochures, pamphlets, flyers, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1728.IH H1728 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1728 IH other materials in a language other than 1 English; 2 ‘‘(D) the services provided or performed 3 for the Federal Government by agency employ- 4 ees or contractors that require speaking a lan- 5 guage other than English that result in wage 6 differentials or benefits provided by the agency; 7 and 8 ‘‘(E) any other services provided or per- 9 formed by an agency which utilize languages 10 other than English and that incur additional 11 costs to the agency. 12 ‘‘(2) MULTILINGUAL SERVICES ACCOUNTING IN- 13 FORMATION.—The term ‘multilingual services ac- 14 counting information’ means any accounting infor- 15 mation related to multilingual services.’’. 16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 17 tions at the beginning of chapter 9 of title 31, United 18 States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating 19 to section 903 the following: 20 ‘‘904. Definitions.’’. SEC. 4. MULTILINGUAL SERVICES EXPENSES REPORT. 21 (a) MULTILINGUAL SERVICES EXPENSES REPORT.— 22 Subchapter II of chapter 35 of title 31, United States 23 Code is amended— 24 (1) in section 3512(a)(2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1728.IH H1728 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1728 IH (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 1 paragraph (E); 2 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 3 subparagraph (G); and 4 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 5 the following: 6 ‘‘(F) effective for the first full calendar 7 year beginning after December 31, 2019, and 8 for each calendar year thereafter, a Multilingual 9 Services Expenses Report, which shall include— 10 ‘‘(i) a summary and analysis of the 11 multilingual services accounting informa- 12 tion (as defined in section 904 of this title) 13 prepared by each agency Chief Financial 14 Officer under section 902(a)(6)(E) of this 15 title; 16 ‘‘(ii) a description of any changes to 17 the existing financial management struc- 18 ture of the Federal Government needed to 19 establish an integrated individual agency 20 accounting of all multilingual services (as 21 defined in section 904 of this title) con- 22 ducted by each agency; and 23 ‘‘(iii) any other information the Direc- 24 tor considers appropriate to fully inform 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1728.IH H1728 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1728 IH the Congress and the agency Chief Finan- 1 cial Officers regarding the accounting of 2 all multilingual services provided by the 3 Federal Government; and’’; and 4 (2) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘§ 3517. Multilingual services accounting guidelines. 6 ‘‘Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact- 7 ment of this section, the Director of the Office of Manage- 8 ment and Budget shall issue guidance that each agency 9 Chief Financial Officer shall follow in compiling the multi- 10 lingual services accounting information required under 11 section 902(a)(6)(E) of this title.’’. 12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 13 tions at the beginning of chapter 35 of title 31, United 14 States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating 15 to section 3516 the following: 16 ‘‘3517. Multilingual services accounting guidelines.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1728.IH H1728 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS