§1552 Report on Federal Mandates by Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations

Summary

Requires the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to study federal mandates and report what it finds to the President and Congress. The Commission must look at how mandates affect State, local, tribal, and Federal governments, the private sector, and working people. It must review unfunded State mandates on local governments. The Commission must recommend ways to give governments more flexibility, fix conflicting rules, end duplicate or obsolete mandates, temporarily pause non‑vital mandates that hurt government budgets and say how to trigger such pauses, simplify or combine mandates and reporting, and set common definitions or standards. It must also consider any harm to the private sector if governments are relieved and whether the same relief can apply to private entities. Each recommendation should say which specific mandates it covers, including any Federal rules about using metric systems, and note possible private‑sector effects. The Commission must set rules for how it will make recommendations. It had to publish proposed rules no later than 60 days after March 22, 1995, allow 30 days for public comment, and issue final rules within 45 days after proposing them. A preliminary report was due no later than 9 months after March 22, 1995, with public notice, copies on request, and public hearings. A final report must go to the President and to Congress, including the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and the Senate and House Budget Committees, within 3 months after the preliminary report is published. The Commission must give top priority to mandates that are part of court cases between the United States and a State, local, or tribal government. State mandate: a state law or rule that creates enforceable duties on local governments, the private sector, or individuals, including conditions for state aid or duties from voluntary state programs.