What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (the government agency that estimates how much legislation costs) to publicly share the models, data and calculations it uses when scoring bills. The goal is to let anyone see how the office reached its cost estimates, not just members of Congress.
Who It Affects
Members of Congress and the general public who want to understand how the Congressional Budget Office calculates bill costs.
Key Provisions
• The Congressional Budget Office must make available to Congress members and post on its website all fiscal models, policy models and data preparation routines (step-by-step procedures for organizing information) used to estimate legislation costs (Sec. 2(b)(1))
• The office must share all updates to these models and routines (Sec. 2(b)(2))
• For each bill cost estimate, the office must provide the data, computer programs, models, assumptions and calculation details in enough detail that someone outside the office can reproduce the same results (Sec. 2(b)(3))
• For data that cannot be publicly released by law, the office must list all data variables (categories of information), provide statistics about the data like averages and patterns, cite the law preventing release, and explain who can access the full data (Sec. 2(b)(4))
What Changes
The Congressional Budget Office will be required to share its internal cost-estimating tools and working information with the public on its website, subject to privacy laws.
Important Definitions
None defined in bill text.
Effective Date
Six months after the date the bill becomes law.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1492
To require the Congressional Budget Office to make publicly available the
fiscal and mathematical models, data, and other details of computations
used in cost analysis and scoring.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 9, 2023
Mr. DAVIDSON (for himself, Mr. PALMER, Mr. NORMAN, and Mr. PERRY) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Budget
A BILL
To require the Congressional Budget Office to make publicly
available the fiscal and mathematical models, data, and
other details of computations used in cost analysis and
scoring.
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 ‘‘CBO Show Your Work
4
Act’’.
5
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:43 Mar 22, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1492.IH
H1492
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2
•HR 1492 IH
SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
1
MODELS.
2
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 402 of the Congressional
3
Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653) is amended—
4
(1) by striking ‘‘The Director’’ and inserting
5
the following:
6
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director’’; and
7
(2) by adding at the end the following:
8
‘‘(b) PUBLICATION OF MODELS AND DATA.—The Di-
9
rector of the Congressional Budget Office shall make
10
available to Members of Congress and make publicly avail-
11
able on the website of the Congressional Budget Office—
12
‘‘(1) each fiscal model, policy model, and data
13
preparation routine used by the Congressional Budg-
14
et Office in estimating the costs and other fiscal, so-
15
cial, or economic effects of legislation, including esti-
16
mates prepared under subsection (a);
17
‘‘(2) any update of a model or routine described
18
in paragraph (1);
19
‘‘(3) subject to paragraph (4), for each estimate
20
of the costs and other fiscal effects of legislation, in-
21
cluding estimates prepared under subsection (a), the
22
data, programs, models, assumptions, and other de-
23
tails of the computations used by the Congressional
24
Budget Office in preparing the estimate, in a man-
25
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:43 Mar 22, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1492.IH
H1492
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3
•HR 1492 IH
ner sufficient to permit replication by individuals not
1
employed by the Congressional Budget Office; and
2
‘‘(4) for any data that is required not to be dis-
3
closed by the Congressional Budget Office—
4
‘‘(A) a complete list of all data variables
5
for such data;
6
‘‘(B) descriptive statistics for all data vari-
7
ables for such data (including averages, stand-
8
ard deviations, number of observations, and cor-
9
relations to other variables), to the extent that
10
the descriptive statistics do not violate the rule
11
against disclosure;
12
‘‘(C) a reference to the statute requiring
13
that the data not be disclosed; and
14
‘‘(D) information regarding how to contact
15
the individual or entity who has unrestricted ac-
16
cess to the data.’’.
17
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
18
subsection (a) shall apply on and after the date that is
19
6 months after the date of enactment of this Act.
20
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:43 Mar 22, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H1492.IH
H1492
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS