CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5790 would cost $1 million annually; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5790 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 5790 would aim to improve legal protections for employees at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who report abuse, fraud, and waste related to government activities (such individuals are known as whistleblowers). The legislation would change the process for investigating and adjudicating complaints regarding reprisals against whistleblowers. The bill also would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to prepare reports related to complaints of whistleblower retaliation and the handling of those cases by the FBI.
H.R. 5790 would expand reporting requirements for DOJ and could lengthen the time required to adjudicate some complaints of retaliation. The legislation also could lead to an increase in the number of such cases (about one dozen annually in recent years). Based on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5790 would increase administrative costs for DOJ and GAO by a total of about $1 million annually.
H.R. 5790 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On November 22, 2016, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 2390, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016, as reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 14, 2016. Both pieces of legislation are similar and CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects are the same.