[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3752 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3752

  To amend title 31, United States Code, to require each agency Chief 
 Financial Officer to submit to the Office of Management and Budget a 
report on and recommendations concerning the adjustment or reduction of 
    fees imposed by the agency for services and things of value it 
                               provides.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2011

Ms. Richardson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 31, United States Code, to require each agency Chief 
 Financial Officer to submit to the Office of Management and Budget a 
report on and recommendations concerning the adjustment or reduction of 
    fees imposed by the agency for services and things of value it 
                               provides.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cost Recovery and Fair Value for 
Services Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal Government has an obligation to United 
        States citizens to be stewards of their hard-earned taxpayer 
        dollars by operating in an efficient manner.
            (2) There are hundreds of Federal agencies in the executive 
        branch providing an array of services and programs.
            (3) It is critical, especially in times when national debt 
        is high, for these agencies to ensure that the programs they 
        provide are consistently assessed regarding their costs and 
        self-financed to the greatest extent possible.
            (4) By setting equitable user fee rates for services 
        provided, agencies as well as those who use the services can 
        participate in the shared fiscal responsibility needed to 
        reduce the deficit without overburdening users or constraining 
        demand.

SEC. 3. USER FEE REPORT.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 902 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) User Fee Report Required.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than October 1 of each odd-
        numbered year, beginning with October 1, 2011, an agency Chief 
        Financial Officer shall prepare and submit a report to the 
        Director of the Office of Management and Budget on the review 
        and recommendations under subsection (a)(8) and shall include 
        with regard to the recommendations concerning the adjustment or 
        reduction of fees imposed by the agency for services and things 
        of value it provides for the matters described under paragraphs 
        (2) and (3).
            ``(2) Matters related to equity.--The report required by 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following:
                    ``(A) An evaluation of whether each user is paying 
                an equitable amount and the ability of the user to pay 
                the fee.
                    ``(B) The extent to which use of such program by 
                certain users, or for certain types of uses, provides a 
                public benefit.
                    ``(C) The extent to which the program for which the 
                fee is funding benefits the public and identifiable 
                users.
            ``(3) Matters related to efficiency.--The report required 
        by paragraph (1) shall include the following:
                    ``(A) The amount of the fee sufficient to cover the 
                full cost of the service or thing of value provided by 
                the agency.
                    ``(B) Whether the agency has timely and reliable 
                cost data to determine the amount of the fee to cover 
                the full cost of the service or thing of value provided 
                by the agency.
                    ``(C) The extent to which the fee will fully or 
                partially recover costs of the service or thing of 
                value provided by the agency.
                    ``(D) Whether the fee structure should include 
                exemptions or reduced fees.
                    ``(E) Whether the fee should be set as a percentage 
                or as a fixed dollar amount.
                    ``(F) How the fee will be structured to cover the 
                intended share of the cost of the service or thing of 
                value provided by the agency over time.
                    ``(G) Whether fee collections are projected to 
                change over time in relation to the cost of the service 
                or thing of value provided by the agency.
            ``(4) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Equitable amount.--The term `equitable 
                amount' means an amount that is set at a level so that 
                a user with the ability to pay a higher fee pays more 
                for the service and thing of value than a user with 
                less ability to pay.
                    ``(B) User.--The term `user' means a person that 
                pays a fee imposed by an agency for services and things 
                of value provided by the agency.''.
    (b) Submission by OMB.--Not later than December 1 of each year in 
which a report is submitted under section 902(c) of title 31, United 
States Code, as added by subsection (a), the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall compile and transmit the reports, along 
with a summary prepared by the Director, including an identification of 
any recommendations in the report the Director does not agree with and 
the reasons for such disagreement, to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
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