[House Report 108-458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



108th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     108-458

======================================================================



 
                   SMALL PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY ACT

                                _______
                                

 April 2, 2004.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Oxley, from the Committee on Financial Services, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany H.R. 27]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Financial Services, to whom was referred the 
bill (H.R. 27) to amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 
to exempt small public housing agencies from the requirement of 
preparing an annual public housing agency plan, having 
considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment 
and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Amendment........................................................     1
Purpose and Summary..............................................     2
Background and Need for Legislation..............................     2
Committee Consideration..........................................     3
Committee Votes..................................................     3
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     3
New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures     3
Committee Cost Estimate..........................................     3
Congressional Budget Office Estimate.............................     3
Federal Mandates Statement.......................................     4
Advisory Committee Statement.....................................     4
Constitutional Authority Statement...............................     4
Applicability to Legislative Branch..............................     5
Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation...................     5
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............     5

                               Amendment

  The amendment is as follows:
  Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``Small Public Housing Authority Act''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY PLANS FOR CERTAIN SMALL PUBLIC HOUSING 
                    AGENCIES.

  Section 5A(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437c-1(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
          ``(3) Exemption of certain small phas from filing 
        requirement.--
                  ``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or 
                any other provision of this Act--
                          ``(i) the requirement under paragraph (1) 
                        shall not apply to any qualified small public 
                        housing agency; and
                          ``(ii) any reference in this section or any 
                        other provision of law to a `public housing 
                        agency' shall not be considered to refer to any 
                        qualified small public housing agency, to the 
                        extent such reference applies to the 
                        requirement to submit a public housing agency 
                        plan under this subsection.
                  ``(B) Definition.--For purposes of this paragraph, 
                the term `qualified small public housing agency' means 
                a public housing agency that meets all of the following 
                requirements:
                          ``(i) The sum of (I) the number of public 
                        housing dwelling units administered by the 
                        agency, and (II) the number of vouchers under 
                        section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act 
                        of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) administered by 
                        the agency, is 100 or fewer.
                          ``(ii) The agency is not designated pursuant 
                        to section 6(j)(2) as a troubled public housing 
                        agency.
                          ``(iii) The agency provides assurances 
                        satisfactory to the Secretary that 
                        notwithstanding the inapplicability of the 
                        requirements under this section relating to 
                        resident advisory boards and public hearings 
                        and notice, residents of public housing 
                        administered by the agency will have an 
                        adequate and comparable opportunity for 
                        participation and notice regarding 
                        establishment of the goals, objectives, and 
                        policies of the public housing agency.''.

                          Purpose and Summary

    The purpose of H.R. 27 is to provide some regulatory burden 
relief to small public housing authorities (PHAs). H.R. 27 
exempts small PHAs from being required to submit an annual plan 
to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For 
purposes of this legislation, a small PHA is defined as when 
the sum of both the number of housing units and the number of 
Section 8 vouchers is 100 or fewer.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    The Public Housing Reform Act requires PHAs to submit both 
a five-year plan and an annual plan to HUD. The five-year PHA 
plan addresses the agency's mission and its plan to achieve its 
mission. The annual plan requires PHAs to provide details about 
any updates or changes to the five-year plan.
    Specifically, the annual plan, among other things, has 
typically asked for the following information: housing needs of 
the families in the jurisdiction; strategies to meet these 
needs; statement of financial resources; and PHA policies 
governing eligibility, selection, and admissions. An example of 
a streamlined plan was 47 pages with extensive attachments.
    This legislation is needed to ease one of the burdens 
placed on small PHAs, which many times only have a part-time 
executive director. These directors do not have the time, staff 
or resources to complete these annual plans by themselves. 
Currently, a number of small PHAs are forced to hire 
consultants since they do not have the computer software 
packages to help complete these annual plans. These consultants 
are an expensive cost for small PHAs which already are facing 
numerous fiscal challenges.

                        Committee Consideration

    The Committee on Financial Services met in open session on 
March 17, 2004 and ordered reported to the House H.R. 27, the 
``Small Public Housing Authority Act'' by a voice vote.

                            Committee Votes

    Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires the Committee to list the record votes 
on the motion to report legislation and amendments thereto. No 
record votes were taken with in conjunction with the 
consideration of this legislation. A motion by Mr. Oxley to 
report the bill to the House with a favorable recommendation 
was agreed to by a voice vote.
    The following amendment was considered:
          An amendment in the nature of a substitute by Mr. 
        Bereuter, No. 1, making various substantive and 
        technical changes to the bill, was agreed to by a voice 
        vote.

                    Performance Goals and Objectives

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee establishes the 
following performance related goals and objectives for this 
legislation:
    The objective of this legislation is to reduce the 
administrative workload of small PHAs. The goal of H.R. 27 is 
to give executive directors of small PHAs more time to focus on 
the needs of their tenants rather than having to spend time 
completing an annual plan which is submitted to HUD.

   New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee finds that this 
legislation would result in no new budget authority, 
entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or revenues.

                        Committee Cost Estimate

    The Committee adopts as its own the cost estimate prepared 
by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to 
section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

                  Congressional Budget Office Estimate

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the following is the cost estimate 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 
402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                    Washington, DC, March 22, 2004.
Hon. Michael G. Oxley,
Chairman, Committee on Financial Services,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 27, the Small 
Public Housing Authority Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Chad Chirico.
            Sincerely,
                                       Douglas Holtz-Eakin,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

H.R. 27--Small Public Housing Authority Act

    H.R. 27 would exempt small housing authorities that 
administer 100 or fewer units of assisted housing from the 
requirement to prepare an annual public housing agency plan. 
The threshold would include both public housing units and 
vouchers under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 
1937. Annual public housing agency plans outline low-income 
housing needs in the jurisdiction served by the public housing 
agency and identify strategies to address those needs.
    CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 27 would have no 
significant effect on the federal budget and would not affect 
direct spending or revenues.
    H.R. 27 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Chad Chirico. 
This estimate was approved by Robert A. Sunshine, Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                       Federal Mandates Statement

    The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of Federal 
mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act.

                      Advisory Committee Statement

    No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b) 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act were created by this 
legislation.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee finds that the 
Constitutional Authority of Congress to enact this legislation 
is provided by Article 1, section 8, clause 1 (relating to the 
general welfare of the United States) and clause 3 (relating to 
the power to regulate interstate commerce).

                  Applicability to Legislative Branch

    The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to 
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public 
services or accommodations within the meaning of section 
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.

             Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation


Section 1. Short title

    This section establishes the short title of the bill, the 
``Small Public Housing Authority Act.''

Section 2. Public Housing Agency plans for small public housing 
        agencies

    This section amends section 5A of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937 by exempting small PHAs from being required to 
submit an annual plan to HUD. This section defines a small PHA 
as when the sum of both the number of housing units and the 
number of Section 8 vouchers is 100 or fewer.
    Under this section, small PHAs who are exempt from the 
annual planning requirement would still have to complete a 
five-year plan. Furthermore, a small PHA, which is designated 
as a troubled housing agency by HUD, would still be required to 
submit an annual plan.
    This section requires that tenants of small PHAs, which are 
exempt from the annual planning requirement, must continue to 
have an adequate and comparable opportunity for participation 
and notice regarding the establishing of goals, objectives, and 
policies of the PHA.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is 
printed in italic and existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

          SECTION 5A OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSING ACT OF 1937


SEC. 5A. PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY PLANS.

  (a) * * *
  (b) Annual Plan.--
          (1) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

          (3) Exemption of certain small phas from filing 
        requirement.--
                  (A) In general.--Notwithstanding paragraph 
                (1) or any other provision of this Act--
                          (i) the requirement under paragraph 
                        (1) shall not apply to any qualified 
                        small public housing agency; and
                          (ii) any reference in this section or 
                        any other provision of law to a 
                        ``public housing agency'' shall not be 
                        considered to refer to any qualified 
                        small public housing agency, to the 
                        extent such reference applies to the 
                        requirement to submit a public housing 
                        agency plan under this subsection.
                  (B) Definition.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, the term ``qualified small public 
                housing agency'' means a public housing agency 
                that meets all of the following requirements:
                          (i) The sum of (I) the number of 
                        public housing dwelling units 
                        administered by the agency, and (II) 
                        the number of vouchers under section 
                        8(o) of the United States Housing Act 
                        of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) 
                        administered by the agency, is 100 or 
                        fewer.
                          (ii) The agency is not designated 
                        pursuant to section 6(j)(2) as a 
                        troubled public housing agency.
                          (iii) The agency provides assurances 
                        satisfactory to the Secretary that 
                        notwithstanding the inapplicability of 
                        the requirements under this section 
                        relating to resident advisory boards 
                        and public hearings and notice, 
                        residents of public housing 
                        administered by the agency will have an 
                        adequate and comparable opportunity for 
                        participation and notice regarding 
                        establishment of the goals, objectives, 
                        and policies of the public housing 
                        agency.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                                
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