§658d Legislation Subject to Point of Order

Summary

Congress may not take up a bill or joint resolution from a committee unless the committee has published a Director’s statement showing the direct costs of any federal mandates (supplemental statements are not required). Also, Congress may not consider any measure—bill, amendment, motion, or conference report—that would raise the direct costs of federal mandates on state, local, or tribal governments above the legal thresholds, unless the measure either provides new budget or direct spending authority equal to those costs or includes an authorization for appropriations that meets specific rules. Those rules say the measure must list the dollar cost for each year for up to 10 years consistent with official estimates, name the appropriation bill expected to pay those costs, and require the responsible federal agency, within 30 days after the fiscal year starts, to check if the appropriations are sufficient. The agency must tell Congress either that funding is sufficient after a re-check with state, local, and tribal input, or send legislative ideas to reduce or suspend the mandate. Congress must consider those agency submissions within 30 days. If Congress does not act, the mandate generally stops being effective 60 days after the agency’s statement or recommendations, with special rules for mandates not yet in effect. States, localities, and tribes may still choose to follow and pay for a mandate voluntarily. The rules above do not apply to whole bills reported by the House or Senate Appropriations Committees, but they do apply to any part of those bills that increases direct mandate costs; a Senator can make a point of order to strike such a provision if the chair sustains it. In the Senate, the presiding officer should consult the Governmental Affairs Committee on questions about these rules, and mandate cost levels for a fiscal year are set by the Budget Committee’s estimates.