S. 697 would modify the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the law that regulates the manufacture, importation, and processing of chemicals, with the aim of strengthening the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ability to evaluate and regulate potentially hazardous chemicals.
CBO estimates that EPA would incur additional administrative costs over the 2016-2020 period to meet the new requirements imposed by S. 697; however, we also estimate that under the bill EPA would collect sufficient fees from chemical manufacturers and processors to offset the cost of conducting the activities proposed under this legislation. On net, we estimate that implementing this legislation would reduce discretionary costs by $8 million over the next five years, assuming appropriation actions consistent with provisions of the bill.
Enacting S. 697 could affect direct spending and revenues because the bill would increase some existing civil and criminal penalties for violations of TSCA. Therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates that any changes in revenues and direct spending would not be significant.
S. 697 would impose intergovernmental and private-sector mandates, as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA), on manufacturers, processors, importers, and users of chemical substances. The bill also would impose intergovernmental mandates on state agencies. CBO estimates that the aggregate cost of those mandates would fall below the annual thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates ($77 million and $154 million in 2015, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation).