# 115-hr-3589: COST Act

115-hr-3589, COST Act, is a 115th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Graves, Sam [R-MO-6] (R-MO); status Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (as of 2025-11-18).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-3589
- As of: 2025-11-18
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 115-hr-3589
- Congress: 115
- Title: COST Act
- Status: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
- Introduced: 2017-07-28
- Sponsor: Rep. Graves, Sam [R-MO-6] (R-MO)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
- Touches household money: no
- Last recorded action: 2025-11-18

## Summary

Cost of Services and Translations Act or the COST Act This bill requires federal agency Chief Financial Officers to include multilingual services accounting information in their mandatory annual reports to the agency head and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The bill defines "multilingual services" to include: (1) services provided by interpreters hired by an agency; (2) services resulting in additional expenses which an agency provides to assist its employees or contractors to learn a non-English language; (3) agency preparation, translation, printing, or recordation of materials in a language other than English; and (4) services provided or performed for the federal government by agency employees or contractors that require speaking a non-English language that result in wage differentials or benefits provided by the agency. The bill requires the annual financial management status report of the OMB to certain congressional committees to contain a Multilingual Services Expenses Report that includes: (1) a summary and analysis of the multilingual services accounting information prepared by each agency Chief Financial Officer, and (2) a description of any changes to the existing financial management structure of the federal government needed to establish an integrated individual agency accounting of all multilingual services conducted by each agency. The OMB shall issue guidance that an agency Chief Financial Officer must follow in compiling multilingual services accounting information.

## Related bills

- 115-hr-7059: Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018
- 115-hr-6471: To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify the use of subminimum wage with respect to certain contracts.
- 115-hr-6287: 9/11 Memorial Act
- 115-hr-5988: Common Sense Certification Reform Act
- 115-hr-8: Water Resources Development Act of 2018
- 115-hr-5879: Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2018

## Sources
- [115-hr-3589 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3589)

## Related
- [115-hr-7059: Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-7059)
- [115-hr-6471: To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify the use of subminimum wage w…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-6471)
- [115-hr-6287: 9/11 Memorial Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-6287)
- [115-hr-5988: Common Sense Certification Reform Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-5988)
- [115-hr-8: Water Resources Development Act of 2018](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-8)
- [115-hr-5879: Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2018](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-5879)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/115-hr-3589 (as of 2025-11-18).