Duplication Scoring Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 216 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2183 [Report No. 116–113] To require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 18, 2019 Mr. PAUL (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. LANKFORD, and Ms. ERNST) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments and an amendment to the title [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplica- tion of and overlap with existing Federal programs, of- fices, and initiatives. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2183 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Duplication Scoring 2 Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. ASSESSMENTS OF REPORTED BILLS BY GAO. 4 Section 719 of title 31, United States Code, is 5 amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(i)(1) In this subsection— 7 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered bill or joint resolution’ 8 means a bill or joint resolution of a public character 9 reported by any committee of Congress (including 10 the Committee on Appropriations and the Com- 11 mittee on the Budget of either House); 12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 13 the Congressional Budget Office; 14 ‘‘(C) the term ‘existing duplicative or overlap- 15 ping feature’ means an element of the Federal Gov- 16 ernment previously identified as an area of duplica- 17 tion, overlap, or fragmentation in a GAO duplication 18 and overlap report; 19 ‘‘(D) the term ‘GAO duplication and overlap re- 20 port’ means each annual report prepared by the 21 Comptroller General under section 21 of the Joint 22 Resolution entitled ‘Joint Resolution increasing the 23 statutory limit on the public debt’, approved Feb- 24 ruary 12, 2010 Public Law 111–139 (31 U.S.C. 712 25 note); and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2183 RS ‘‘(E) the term ‘new duplicative or overlapping 1 feature’ means a new Federal program, office, or 2 initiative created under a covered bill or joint resolu- 3 tion that would duplicate or overlap with an existing 4 duplicative or overlapping feature. 5 ‘‘(2) For each covered bill or joint resolution— 6 ‘‘(A) the Comptroller General shall, to the extent 7 practicable— 8 ‘‘(i) prepare an assessment— 9 ‘‘(I) to determine whether the covered 10 bill or joint resolution creates a new dupli- 11 cative or overlapping feature; and 12 ‘‘(II) if the covered bill or joint resolu- 13 tion creates a new duplicative or overlap- 14 ping feature, that includes— 15 ‘‘(aa) the name of the new Fed- 16 eral program, office, or initiative; and 17 ‘‘(bb) a reference to— 18 ‘‘(AA) the section of the cov- 19 ered bill or joint resolution at 20 which the new duplicative or 21 overlapping feature is estab- 22 lished; and 23 ‘‘(BB) the GAO duplication 24 and overlap report in which the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2183 RS existing duplicative or overlap- 1 ping feature is identified; 2 ‘‘(ii) submit the assessment prepared 3 under clause (i) to the Director; and 4 ‘‘(i) determine the extent to which the cov- 5 ered bill or joint resolution creates a risk of a 6 new duplicative or overlapping feature and, if 7 the risk so warrants, identify— 8 ‘‘(I) the name of the new Federal pro- 9 gram, office, or initiative; 10 ‘‘(II) the section of the covered bill or 11 joint resolution at which the new duplica- 12 tive or overlapping feature is established; 13 and 14 ‘‘(III) the GAO duplication and over- 15 lap report in which the existing duplicative 16 or overlapping feature is identified; and 17 ‘‘(ii) submit the information described in 18 clause (i) to the Director and the committee that 19 reported the covered bill or joint resolution; and 20 ‘‘(iii) publish the assessment information 21 prepared under clause (i) on the website of the 22 Government Accountability Office; and 23 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (3), the Director 24 may include the assessment information submitted 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2183 RS by the Comptroller General under subparagraph 1 (A)(ii) with as a supplement to the estimate for the 2 covered bill or joint resolution to which the assess- 3 ment information pertains submitted by the Director 4 under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act 5 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653). 6 ‘‘(3) If the Comptroller General has not submitted 7 to the Director an assessment the information for a cov- 8 ered bill or joint resolution under paragraph (2)(A)(ii) on 9 the date on which the Director submits the estimate for 10 the covered bill or joint resolution to which the assessment 11 information pertains under section 402 of the Congres- 12 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653), the Director 13 may, on the date on which the Comptroller General sub- 14 mits the assessment information to the Director, prepare 15 and submit to each applicable committee a version of the 16 estimate for the covered bill or joint resolution that in- 17 cludes the assessment. the information as a supplement to 18 the estimate for the covered bill or joint resolution.’’. 19 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 20 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 21 on the earlier of— 22 (1) the date that is 60 days after the date on 23 which the Director of the Office of Management and 24 Budget next, in accordance with section 1122(a) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2183 RS title 31, United States Code, updates the informa- 1 tion made available on the website required under 2 that section; or 3 (2) the date on which a new Congress begins 4 after the date that is 1 year after the date of enact- 5 ment of this Act. 6 Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United States to review cer- tain legislation in order to identify potential risks of du- plication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 216 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2183 [Report No. 116–113] A BILL To require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives. SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 Reported with amendments and an amendment to the title VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S2183.RS S2183 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS