[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H10459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN AMENDMENTS ACT OF 
                                  2000

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on 
Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of Senate 
bill (S. 3062) to modify the date on which the Mayor of the District of 
Columbia submits a performance accountability plan to Congress, and for 
other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, 
but I do not plan to object. I take this time to engage the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Horn) in a colloquy for a brief explanation of his 
unanimous consent request.
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 3062, the District of 
Columbia Performance Accountability Plan Amendments Act of 2000. This 
bill contains technical amendments to the District of Columbia's 
performance plan requirements, which will allow the city to reform its 
management system more effectively.
  Mr. Speaker, just as the Government Performance and Results Act of 
1993 redesigned the management practices and accountability at Federal 
agencies, the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and 
Management Assistance Act of 1995 requires that the city submit 
performance accountability plans to Congress preceding each fiscal 
year.
  These plans set objective and measurable goals for the District's 
agencies and the departments, and establish a system of accountability 
in the city's daily operations.
  Mr. Speaker, it also requires that after each fiscal year, the city 
must submit to Congress a performance accountability report evaluating 
its ability to meet the performance goals of the prior fiscal year.
  This act has provided the city with the means to establish a system 
of performance budgeting. However, the Mayor of the District of 
Columbia requested that Congress make some minor changes to the law to 
improve the efficiency of this process. Therefore, S. 3062 changes the 
submission deadline for the annual performance accountability plan from 
March 1 of each year to be concurrent with the submission of the 
District's budget to Congress.
  This change will tie the District of Columbia's budget to its 
performance accountability measures. This bill also streamlines the 
performance goal submission requirements set out in the act so that 
there is one set of measurable and ambitious goals.

                              {time}  2015

  This is critical to ensuring that the managers of the District of 
Columbia government have a clear understanding of the goals which they 
are expected to meet.
  Furthermore, this bill will impose no additional regulatory burdens 
on the District, and will eventually reduce the paperwork burden by 
creating a single integrated document as a result of the performance 
budgeting process.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join me in voting in support of this 
legislation to help the District of Columbia move closer to an 
effective budgeting process.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to 
object, S. 3062 was introduced on September 18, 2000, by Senators 
Voinivich and Durbin. Together, these two Senators worked with the 
Mayor's Office to draft the technical changes to the performance plan 
submission requirements, and bipartisan support appears to exist in 
both houses for this legislation.
  The legislative changes include, one, changing the deadline for 
submission from March 1 of each year to be concurrent with the 
submission of the D.C. budget to Congress each year; and two, getting 
rid of the multiple performance goals for each measure in exchange for 
one ambitious goal per performance measure.
  With this, Mr. Speaker, I do urge the House to adopt this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  The Clerk read the Senate bill, as follows:

                                S. 3062

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

     SECTION 1. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITY 
                   PLAN.

       Section 456 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act 
     (section 47-231 et seq. of the District of Columbia Code) is 
     amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) in paragraph (1) by striking ``Not later than March 1 
     of each year (beginning with 1998)'' and inserting 
     ``Concurrent with the submission of the District of Columbia 
     budget to Congress each year (beginning with 2001)''; and
       (B) in paragraph (2)(A) by striking ``that describe an 
     acceptable level of performance by the government and a 
     superior level of performance by the government''; and
       (2) in subsection (b)--
       (A) in paragraph (1) by striking ``1999'' and inserting 
     ``2001''; and
       (B) in paragraph (2)(A) by striking ``for an acceptable 
     level of performance by the government and a superior level 
     of performance by the government''.

  The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the 
third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the 
table.

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