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118-hr-5301118th Congress

Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2024

Sponsored By: Representative Garcia, Robert [D-CA-42]

Became Law

Summary

This law makes agencies list recurring plans and reports in their budget materials and require them to recommend whether to sunset outdated or duplicative agency reports. It also demands legal citations and publication of those recommendations on the government portal.

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  • Agency heads must include every recurring plan or report in their budget justification, show its unique identifier, note if it appears on the Clerk of the House list, and flag items they judge outdated or duplicative. For each flagged item they must recommend sunsetting, modifying, consolidating, or reducing frequency and provide a short justification and an optional estimate of resources spent.
  • For government-wide or multi-agency reports, the Office of Management and Budget will decide if a requirement is outdated or duplicative and make recommendations to Congress. OMB must issue guidance on implementing these rules within 180 days.
  • After a congressionally mandated report is submitted to Congress or a committee, agencies must submit the required metadata to the Government Publishing Office within 30 to 60 days so the citation, committee list, and any agency recommendation are posted on the online portal.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Agencies list and review recurring reports

Agency heads must put a list of every recurring plan or report in their budget justification materials. The list states if it appears in the Clerk’s most recent report and includes any official identifier. If a report needs help from other agencies, the agency must consult them. A report is marked outdated or duplicative only if all consulted heads agree. For those items, the agency must recommend sunsetting, changing, combining, or reducing frequency, cite the law, list committees, and explain why. Agencies send this information to the Government Publishing Office for posting online. This material appears in each agency’s budget justification, rather than in the central Government budget.

Clear definitions for agency report lists

The law defines budget justification materials, plan or report, recurring plan or report, and relevant congressional committee. A report sent only to the Armed Services Committees does not count as a relevant committee for this process.

Faster report metadata and OMB guidance

OMB issues guidance within 180 days and updates it as needed. OMB works with the Government Publishing Office and requires a separate attachment for recommendations and justifications so they can post on the public portal. Agencies must send report metadata to the Director 30 to 60 days after they send a report to Congress. Agencies still must post the full report on their own portal and deliver it to Congress or committees as required.

OMB reviews multi-agency report rules

When two or more agencies must send a recurring report, OMB decides if the requirement is outdated or duplicative. OMB gives Congress recommendations to combine, change, or end those requirements.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Garcia, Robert [D-CA-42]

CA • D

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6]

    WI • R

    Sponsored 8/29/2023

  • Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11]

    NC • R

    Sponsored 1/31/2024

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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