H.R. 7265 would require that the envelopes for all ballots for federal elections mailed within the United States adhere to certain specifications. Among other requirements, the bill would specify that each envelope include the Official Election Mail logo and a Postal Service (USPS) barcode, which allows tracking of those envelopes.
Cash flows for the Postal Service are recorded in the federal budget in the Postal Service Fund and are classified as off-budget direct spending; thus, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. Using information from USPS, CBO expects that the agency already has the ability to use trackable barcodes. On that basis, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 7265 would increase off-budget direct spending for USPS by less than $500,000 over the 2026-2036 period.
Section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act excludes from the application of that Act any legislative provision that would enforce constitutional rights of individuals. CBO has determined that H.R. 7265 falls within that exclusion because it enforces constitutional rights related to voting.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Emilia Oliva. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
