COST Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2968 To require the disclosure of information relating to the cost of programs, projects, or activities carried out using Federal funds. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. NORMAN (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Ms. MACE, and Mr. TIMMONS) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over- sight and Accountability A BILL To require the disclosure of information relating to the cost of programs, projects, or activities carried out using Fed- eral funds. 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 Openness and 4 Spending Transparency Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘COST Act 5 of 2023’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2968.IH H2968 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2968 IH SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL 1 FUNDS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 13 of 3 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 4 end the following: 5 ‘‘§ 1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds 6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘agency’ 7 means— 8 ‘‘(1) an Executive agency, as defined in section 9 105 of title 5; and 10 ‘‘(2) an independent regulatory agency, as de- 11 fined in section 3502 of title 44. 12 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.—An agency and 13 an individual or entity (including a State or local govern- 14 ment and a recipient of a Federal research grant) carrying 15 out a program, project, or activity that is, in whole or in 16 part, carried out using Federal funds shall clearly state 17 in any statement, press release, request for proposals, bid 18 solicitation, or other document describing the program, 19 project, or activity, other than a communication con- 20 taining not more than 280 characters— 21 ‘‘(1) the percentage of the total costs of the 22 program, project, or activity which will be financed 23 with Federal funds; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2968.IH H2968 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2968 IH ‘‘(2) the dollar amount of the Federal funds 1 made available for the program, project, or activity; 2 and 3 ‘‘(3) the percentage of the total costs of, and 4 dollar amount for, the program, project, or activity 5 that will be financed by nongovernmental sources. 6 ‘‘(c) CERTIFICATION.—An individual or entity car- 7 rying out a program, project, or activity that is, in whole 8 or in part, carried out using Federal funds shall, as part 9 of the performance progress reporting regarding the pro- 10 gram, project, or activity, include a certification indicating 11 whether the individual or entity complied with the disclo- 12 sure requirements. 13 ‘‘(d) COMPLIANCE REVIEW.—The Director of the Of- 14 fice of Management and Budget shall annually— 15 ‘‘(1) review a random sampling of public com- 16 munications issued by agencies and recipients of 17 Federal funds for compliance with the disclosure re- 18 quirements under subsection (b); and 19 ‘‘(2) make publicly available the findings of the 20 review under paragraph (1). 21 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year 22 after the date of enactment of this section, the Director 23 of the Office of Management and Budget shall make avail- 24 able to the public a mechanism to anonymously report 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2968.IH H2968 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2968 IH communications that do not comply with the disclosure re- 1 quirements under subsection (b), which shall require that 2 such a report include— 3 ‘‘(1) the noncompliant communication or, if 4 publicly available, the location of the noncompliant 5 communication; and 6 ‘‘(2) identifying information regarding the pro- 7 gram, project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, 8 carried out using Federal funds.’’. 9 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 10 The table of sections for subchapter III of chapter 13 of 11 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 12 end the following: 13 ‘‘1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2968.IH H2968 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB