H.R. 5929 would require public companies to disclose details about any expenditures for political activities in their quarterly reports to the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) and their investors. The bill also would require public companies to annually disclose political expenditures greater than $10,000 in the prior year and the planned amounts and nature of any political expenditures in the upcoming year. Under H.R. 5929, the SEC would be required to report annually to the Congress on the compliance of public companies with those reporting requirements and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) would be required to report periodically to the Congress on the SEC’s enforcement efforts regarding those requirements.
CBO estimates that implementing the reporting requirements would cost the SEC and GAO a total of $1 million over the 2020-2025 period. However, because the SEC is authorized to collect fees each year to offset its annual appropriation, CBO expects that the net effect over the 2020-2025 period would be insignificant, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority.
H.R. 5929 contains private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). CBO estimates that the cost to comply with those mandates would be small and would not exceed the threshold established in UMRA ($168 million in 2020, adjusted annually for inflation).
