H.R. 224 would require the Secretary of the Interior to issue permits to certain hunters seeking to import polar bear remains from Canada. Under the bill, only hunters who submit applications for permits to import remains that were acquired prior to May 15, 2008, the date the polar bear was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, would be eligible to receive a permit.
Using information provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, CBO estimates that processing and issuing the roughly 40 permits that would be affected by the bill would have an insignificant effect on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 224 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 224 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 224 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
