S. 812, a bill to direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes

S. 812 would expand an existing requirement for the Department of State to report on its efforts to endorse and obtain observer status for Taiwan at annual meetings of the World Health Organization. Under the act, the department would provide information about how it modifies those efforts following meetings at which Taiwan was excluded as an observer.

On the basis of information about similar reporting requirements, CBO estimates that implementing the act would cost less than $500,000 over the 2021-2026 period. Such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

On April 21, 2021, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 1145, a bill to direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 25, 2021. The two pieces of legislation are similar; differences in CBO’s estimates of the cost of implementing them reflect the assumption that S. 812 would be enacted in 2022.