State and Local Governments
Budget Options
Periodically, CBO produces reference volumes examining options for reducing budget deficits. The volumes include a wide range of options, derived from many sources, for reducing spending and increasing revenues. (Occasionally, the volumes focus on specific areas of the budget, as do many of CBO’s other reports.) For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget and a discussion of its pros and cons but makes no recommendations.
A Budget Options search allows users to search for options by major budget category, budget function, topic, and date. The online search is updated regularly to include only the most recent version of budget options from various CBO reports.
Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure
CBO periodically provides information on spending by federal, state, and local governments for transportation and water infrastructure. In addition to presenting data on outlays for various types of infrastructure, the reports also examine such spending in terms of two broad categories—spending for capital and spending for operation and maintenance.
Review of Activities Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
The federal government sometimes imposes requirements—known as mandates—on state, local, and tribal governments and entities in the private sector in order to achieve national goals. In 1995, lawmakers enacted the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) in part to ensure that the Congress receives information about the potential effects of mandates as it considers proposed legislation. To that end, UMRA requires CBO, at certain points in the legislative process, to assess the cost of mandates that would apply to state, local, and tribal governments and to the private sector. From 1997 through 2015, CBO prepared annual reviews of its activities under UMRA and produced reports summarizing those activities. The last report, which covered activities in calendar year 2014, was published in March 2015. In 2016, CBO fully transitioned to an online version of the review. The online version includes information about mandates in legislation and in public laws beginning with 2013, and it is updated periodically throughout the year.
Online Version (2013 — )