A Review of CBO's Activities in 2014 Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform ACT

The federal government, through laws and regulations, sometimes imposes requirements-known as federal mandates-on state, local, and tribal governments and entities in the private sector to achieve national goals. In 1995, lawmakers enacted the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) in part to ensure that, during the legislative process, the Congress receives information about the potential effects of mandates as it considers proposed legis-lation. To that end, UMRA requires the Congressional Budget Office, at certain stages in the legislative process, to assess the cost of mandates that would apply to state, local, and tribal governments or to the private sector. This report, which is part of an annual series that began in 1997, summarizes CBO's activities in 2014 under UMRA.