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The Reports Elimination and
Sunset Act Amendments of 1999 (S. 1877). This is a
final step in the implementation of legislation
designed to eliminate hundreds of unneeded reports
requested over many years by Congress from federal agencies. The
Committee asked that only three key reports be
continued, allowing agencies to save money by
terminating dozens of other unnecessary ones. The
bill, introduced by Chairman Thompson, was
reported out by the Governmental Affairs Committee on
November 8, 1999, passed the Senate on November 19,
1999 and is pending consideration in the House.
Legislative
History
The Federal Reports
Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-66)
eliminated several hundred no-longer-needed reports to
the Congress. In addition, it established a mechanism
for the subsequent `sunsetting,' effective December
21, 1999, of many more laws that require reports to
the Congress.
Section 3003 of the
Sunset Act provided that each law `requiring the
submittal to Congress (or any committee of the
Congress) of any annual, semiannual, or other regular
periodic report' listed in a 1993 document issued by
the Clerk of the House of Representatives `shall cease
to be effective' four years after the date of
enactment of the Act, i.e., on December 21, 1999. The
Clerk's document referred to in the Sunset Act,
entitled `Reports to be Made to Congress' (House
Document 103-7), was issued on January 5, 1993.
The Sunset Act itself
exempted from sunset certain specific reports and
categories of reports. The sponsors of the Act,
Senators McCain and Levin, anticipated that, over
time, Congress would identify additional reports that
warranted exemption from sunset. Indeed, the 4-year
lead time before the sunset became effective was
provided for this purpose.
In the interim, the
Committee passed S. 1364, the Federal Reports
Elimination Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-362). The bill
eliminated or modified Congressionally mandated
Federal agency reports that are redundant, obsolete,
or otherwise unnecessary on the recommendation of the
Administration.
S. 1364 was introduced
on November 4, 1997 by Senators McCain (R-AZ) and
Levin (D-MI) and referred to the Committee on
Governmental Affairs. The Committee circulated copies
of S. 1364 to relevant authorizing committees for
comment. The Committee also worked closely with the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the
Office of Management and Budget to clarify citations
and any discrepancies between the bill and the
recommendations of the Administration. The Committee
held a markup of the bill on March 10, 1998. Senator
Levin offered an amendment to the bill which made
various technical corrections and added other reports.
The Committee unanimously approved the amendment and
the bill by voice vote. The bill was passed by the
Senate as amended on June 10, 1998, and again on
October 21, 1998 as amended by the House. S.
1364 was signed into law on November 10, 1998.
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