Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Effects of Rules Committee Print 116-63, H.R. 4447, The Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act, Including Manager’s Amendment (Pallone 170)
Cost Estimate
As reported by the Committee on Rules on September 21, 2020
H.R. 4447 would modify existing laws and policies governing the energy sector. CBO estimates that the provisions noted below would have an insignificant effect on net direct spending, revenues, and the deficit over the 2020-2030 period.
Subtitle C of Title I would require federal agencies and data centers to implement strategies to acquire, use, and maintain information technologies expected to increase energy efficiency. Those provisions could affect direct spending if agencies procure energy-efficient technologies using long-term contracts known as energy savings performance contracts.
Subtitle F of Title II would allow operators with certain federal leases to noncompetitively acquire the rights to coproduce geothermal resources under that lease and to noncompetitively lease land adjoining that lease. CBO expects that few leases would be affected by this provision.
Subtitle C of Title IV would reduce revenues by extending quotas for imports of uranium from Russia until 2040, which under current law are set to expire in 2020.
Title XI would allow aggrieved persons to sue entities, such as local governments, for discrimination that occurs in the context of implementing environmental projects or regulations promulgated by federal agencies. CBO expects that provision would increase the number of suits filed in federal court. Those changes would increase both revenues (from court filing fees) and spending of those fees.
H.R. 4447 also would authorize the appropriation of more than $125 billion over the 2021-2025 period for various programs related to clean energy. Any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriations for those programs.
H.R. 4447 contains intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). CBO estimates that the costs of mandates on private entities would exceed the private-sector threshold established in UMRA, and the costs of mandates on state, local, and tribal governments would fall below the threshold for intergovernmental mandates (those thresholds are $168 million and $84 million in 2020, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation).
