Duplication Scoring Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4365 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 Mr. MEADOWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Duplication Scoring 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4365.IH H4365 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4365 IH SEC. 2. ASSESSMENTS OF REPORTED BILLS BY GAO. 1 Section 719 of title 31, United States Code, is 2 amended by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(i)(1) In this subsection— 4 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered bill or resolution’ means 5 a bill or joint resolution of a public character re- 6 ported by any committee of Congress (including the 7 Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 8 the Budget of either House); 9 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 10 the Congressional Budget Office; 11 ‘‘(C) the term ‘existing duplicative or overlap- 12 ping feature’ means an element of the Federal Gov- 13 ernment previously identified in a GAO duplication 14 and overlap report; 15 ‘‘(D) the term ‘GAO duplication and overlap re- 16 port’ means each annual report prepared by the 17 Comptroller General under section 21 of the Joint 18 Resolution entitled ‘Joint Resolution increasing the 19 statutory limit on the public debt’, approved Feb- 20 ruary 12, 2010 (31 U.S.C. 712 note); and 21 ‘‘(E) the term ‘new duplicative or overlapping 22 feature’ means a new Federal program, office, or 23 initiative created under a covered bill or joint resolu- 24 tion that would duplicate or overlap with an existing 25 duplicative or overlapping feature. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4365.IH H4365 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4365 IH ‘‘(2) For each covered bill or joint resolution— 1 ‘‘(A) the Comptroller General shall— 2 ‘‘(i) prepare an assessment— 3 ‘‘(I) to determine whether the covered 4 bill or joint resolution creates a new dupli- 5 cative or overlapping feature; and 6 ‘‘(II) if the covered bill or joint resolu- 7 tion creates a new duplicative or overlap- 8 ping feature, that includes— 9 ‘‘(aa) the name of the new Fed- 10 eral program, office, or initiative; and 11 ‘‘(bb) a reference to— 12 ‘‘(AA) the section of the cov- 13 ered bill or joint resolution at 14 which the new duplicative or 15 overlapping feature is estab- 16 lished; and 17 ‘‘(BB) the GAO duplication 18 and overlap report in which the 19 existing duplicative or overlap- 20 ping feature is identified; 21 ‘‘(ii) submit the assessment prepared 22 under clause (i) to the Director; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4365.IH H4365 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4365 IH ‘‘(iii) publish the assessment prepared 1 under clause (i) on the website of the Govern- 2 ment Accountability Office; and 3 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (3), the Director 4 may include the assessment submitted by the Comp- 5 troller General under subparagraph (A)(ii) with the 6 estimate for the covered bill or joint resolution to 7 which the assessment pertains submitted by the Di- 8 rector under section 402 of the Congressional Budg- 9 et Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653). 10 ‘‘(3) If the Comptroller General has not submitted 11 to the Director an assessment for a covered bill or joint 12 resolution under paragraph (2)(A)(ii) on the date on 13 which the Director submits the estimate for the covered 14 bill or joint resolution to which the assessment pertains 15 under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 16 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653), the Director may, on the date on 17 which the Comptroller General submits the assessment to 18 the Director, prepare and submit to each applicable com- 19 mittee a version of the estimate for the covered bill or joint 20 resolution that includes the assessment.’’. 21 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 22 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 23 on the earlier of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4365.IH H4365 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4365 IH (1) the date that is 60 days after the date on 1 which the Director of the Office of Management and 2 Budget next, in accordance with section 1122(a) of 3 title 31, United States Code, updates the informa- 4 tion made available on the website required under 5 that section; or 6 (2) the date on which a new Congress begins 7 after the date that is 1 year after the date of enact- 8 ment of this Act. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4365.IH H4365 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS