H.R. 702 would amend the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act to expand the current process used to investigate and resolve federal employees’ claims of discrimination by other federal employees. The bill also would expand the amount of information that must be reported and made available concerning such discrimination cases.
Based on information from the Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, CBO expects that most of the provisions in the bill would build on the current policies and practices of the federal government. Currently, the federal government, through laws, regulations, and agency policies, prohibits discrimination in all phases of employment. CBO expects that under the bill there would be some minor additional costs for agencies to track and report discriminatory acts and to notify the public of violations of antidiscrimination laws. Based on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 702 would increase federal administrative costs by less than $500,000 annually; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting H.R. 702 could affect direct spending by some agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they are authorized to use receipts from the sale of goods, fees, and other collections to cover their operating costs. Therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because most of those agencies can make adjustments to the amounts collected, CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 702 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 702 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
