As ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on May 21, 2025
H.R. 689, FREE ActAs ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on May 21, 2025
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars | 2026 | 2026-2030 | 2026-2035 | ||||||||
Direct Spending (Outlays) | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Revenues | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays) | * | 20 | not estimated | ||||||||
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036?
| No
| Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply?
| Yes
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Mandate Effects
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Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036?
| No
| Contains intergovernmental mandate?
| No
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Contains private-sector mandate?
| No
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* = between -$500,000 and $500,000.
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On This Page
H.R. 689 would require federal agencies to report to the Congress on the permits that they issue and to assess the feasibility of replacing current permitting processes with a permitting-by-rule process, which would allow streamlined permitting for applicants certifying that they have met specific conditions. Agencies would have limited discretion to deny applications under that new process.
The bill also would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), within 120 days of enactment, to issue guidance on establishing permitting by rule. H.R. 689 would require agencies to report to the Congress on their plans for implementation and, within 12 months of reporting, establish permitting-by-rule processes for eligible activities. The bill also would require the Government Accountability Office to evaluate and report on federal permitting systems.
Based on the cost of similar reporting requirements, CBO anticipates that the workload of each of the 24 largest federal agencies would increase by more than $500,000 over the 2026‑2030 period. We estimate that implementing those provisions would cost $20 million over that period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
How agencies would interpret and implement the bill’s requirements is uncertain. The bill would require OMB to define what a permit is and would give agencies wide discretion to determine which types of permits would qualify for permitting by rule. CBO has no basis to estimate the specific processes that agencies would consider to be subject to the bill’s requirements or suitable for permitting by rule.
Because the bill would not change agencies’ legal responsibilities and because each agency would determine which processes to replace with permitting by rule, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 689 would not significantly affect how agencies implement permitting processes under current law. As a result, we estimate that implementing the bill would have an insignificant effect both on direct spending and on revenues over the 2026-2035 period.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office