[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1941 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.1941

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two


                                 An Act


 
    To direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to 
 standardize the use of core-based statistical area designations across 
 Federal programs, to allow between 120 and 180 days for public comment 
   on any proposed change to such designations, and to report on the 
   scientific basis and estimated impact to Federal programs for any 
      proposed change to such designations, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Metropolitan Areas Protection and 
Standardization Act of 2021'' or the ``MAPS Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) Federal programs use core-based statistical area 
    delineations to determine the delivery of Federal services, 
    benefits, and funding to people in the United States, such as in 
    criteria for eligibility or distribution.
        (2) Core-based statistical area delineations provide a 
    nationally consistent set of standards for collecting, tabulating, 
    and publishing Federal statistics for geographic areas, and they 
    are not intended for any public or private sector non-statistical 
    uses such as program administration or service delivery.
        (3) Updates to core-based statistical area delineations may 
    cause widespread disruption to the delivery of Federal services, 
    benefits, and funding to people in the United States based on the 
    reliance of Federal programs on these delineations.
        (4) There does not exist any comprehensive list of Federal 
    programs that rely on core-based statistical area delineations. 
    Such a list is valuable for the study of how Federal services, 
    benefits, and funding are distributed to people in the United 
    States.
        (5) Increased transparency on the impacts of any update to 
    core-based statistical area delineations may be overly burdensome 
    due to the anticipated variety of Federal programs that rely on 
    these delineations. Any requirement for complete disclosure of 
    these impacts prior to implementation of new delineations may 
    unintentionally cause the existing delineations to ossify.
        (6) In order to prevent any disruption to service delivery of 
    Federal programs based on updates to core-based statistical area 
    delineations, and ensure the independence of Federal statistical 
    policymaking, Congress must sever the link between future updates 
    to core-based statistical area delineations and any automatic 
    impact on Federal programs that rely on these delineations.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE.
    This purpose of this Act is to ensure--
        (1) transparency in how core-based statistical area 
    delineations are used in domestic assistance programs; and
        (2) independence of the Office of Management and Budget in 
    establishing and updating core-based statistical area delineations.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
    In this Act:
        (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given the term 
    in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
        (2) Comptroller general.--The term ``Comptroller General'' 
    means the Comptroller General of the United States.
        (3) Core-based statistical area.--The term ``core-based 
    statistical area'' has the meaning given the term by the Office of 
    Management and Budget in the Notice of Decision entitled ``2020 
    Standards for Delineating Core-Based Statistical Areas'', published 
    in the Federal Register on July 16, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 37770), or 
    any successor to that Notice.
        (4) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of the 
    Office of Management and Budget.
        (5) Domestic assistance program.--The term ``domestic 
    assistance program'' has the meaning given the term in section 6101 
    of title 31, United States Code.
        (6) Open government data asset.--The term ``open Government 
    data asset'' has the meaning given the term in section 3502 of 
    title 44, United States Code.
SEC. 5. NON-PROPAGATION OF CORE-BASED STATISTICAL AREA DELINEATIONS.
    (a) Amendment.--Chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 6309. Non-propagation of core-based statistical area 
    delineations
    ``(a) In General.--Beginning on the date of enactment of the MAPS 
Act of 2021, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, any change 
to the standards of core-based statistical area delineations pursuant 
to section 3504(e) of title 44--
        ``(1) shall not propagate automatically for any non-statistical 
    use by any domestic assistance program, including any such use as 
    required through--
            ``(A) statutory reference to any core-based statistical 
        area delineation; or
            ``(B) administrative or regulatory reference to any core-
        based statistical area delineation; and
        ``(2) shall propagate for any non-statistical use by any 
    domestic assistance program only--
            ``(A) if a relevant agency determines that such a 
        propagation--
                ``(i) supports the purposes of the program; and
                ``(ii) is in the public interest; and
            ``(B) through affirmative adoption through notice-and-
        comment rulemaking pursuant to section 553 of title 5.
    ``(b) Definitions.--The definitions in section 4 of the MAPS Act of 
2021 shall apply to this section.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 6308 the following:
``6309. Non-propagation of core-based statistical area delineations.''.
SEC. 6. TRANSPARENCY OF NON-STATISTICAL USES OF CORE-BASED STATISTICAL 
AREA DELINEATIONS.
    (a) In General.--Section 6102(a)(2) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended--
        (1) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as subparagraph (H);
        (2) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``and'' at the end; and
        (3) by inserting after subparagraph (F) the following:
            ``(G) uses of core-based statistical area (as defined in 
        section 4 of the MAPS Act of 2021) delineations (as chosen from 
        standardized categories of uses determined by the Director), 
        for purposes including prime recipient and subrecipient 
        eligibility for, and distribution of, any Federal service, 
        benefit, or funding; and''.
    (b) Content Requirements.--In collecting and reviewing the 
information required under section 6102(a)(2)(G) of title 31, United 
States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, the Director 
shall include as standardized categories--
        (1) whether the most current core-based statistical area 
    delineation has been affirmatively adopted pursuant to section 6309 
    of title 31, United States Coded, as added by this Act;
        (2) which historical core-based statistical area delineation 
    was maintained, in cases where an updated delineation has not been 
    affirmatively adopted pursuant to section 6309 of title 31, United 
    States Coded, as added by this Act;
        (3) what purpose the core-based statistical area delineation 
    serves, including--
            (A) to determine eligibility for any Federal service, 
        benefit, or funding;
            (B) to determine distribution of any Federal service, 
        benefit, or funding; and
            (C) any other standardized category of purpose determined 
        by the Director;
        (4) whether the use of core-based statistical area delineation 
    directly concerns any--
            (A) prime recipient of any Federal service, benefit, or 
        funding; and
            (B) subrecipient of any Federal service, benefit, or 
        funding; and
        (5) the date when the information collected in this subsection 
    was last updated.
    (c) Accessibility Requirements.--The Director shall ensure that the 
information collected and reviewed under section 6102(a)(2)(G) of title 
31, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, 
shall be--
        (1) publicly accessible as an open Government data asset;
        (2) presented in a user-friendly visual format with search and 
    download capabilities;
        (3) easily discoverable by the public on relevant government 
    websites; and
        (4) updated not less frequently than once every year.
    (d) Implementation Timeline.--The requirements of this section 
shall be fully implemented not later than 2 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 7. INDEPENDENCE, INTEGRITY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF CORE-BASED 
STATISTICAL AREA DELINEATIONS.
    Section 3504(e) of title 44, United States Code, is amended by--
        (1) in paragraph (8)(B)(ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
        (2) in paragraph (9)(B), by striking the period at the end and 
    inserting ``; and''; and
        (3) by adding at the end the following:
        ``(10) ensure that any change to the standards of core-based 
    statistical area (as defined in section 4 of the MAPS Act of 2021) 
    delineations pursuant to this subsection shall--
            ``(A) be accompanied by a public report that explains--
                ``(i) the scientific basis, criteria, and methodology 
            for such change to existing standards, including clear 
            quantitative thresholds for determining any future 
            statistical re-delineations; and
                ``(ii) the opinions of domestic and international 
            experts in statistics and demographics, including 
            government experts at the Bureau of the Census and other 
            relevant agencies, who were consulted regarding such change 
            to existing standards;
            ``(B) not be influenced by any non-statistical 
        considerations such as impact on program administration or 
        service delivery; and
            ``(C) not propagate automatically for any non-statistical 
        use by any domestic assistance program (as defined in section 4 
        of the MAPS Act of 2021).''.
SEC. 8. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.
    Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight 
and Reform of the House of Representatives a report that--
        (1) assesses the completeness, timeliness, quality, accuracy, 
    accessibility, and usefulness of the information reported pursuant 
    to section 6 and the amendment made by section 6; and
        (2) identifies any Federal programs, including any domestic 
    assistance programs or other programs, that--
            (A) use core-based statistical area delineations for any 
        non-statistical purpose; and
            (B) as of the date of the report, are not reported pursuant 
        to section 6 and the amendment made by section 6; and
        (3) if appropriate, includes any recommendations for Federal 
    agencies or Congress based on the findings described in paragraphs 
    (1) and (2).

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.