An Assessment of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act in 1997

After two years, the procedures established by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 UMRA appear to be achieving their goals of focusing greater attention on the costs of federal mandates and ensuring that the Congress knows about those costs when it considers legislation. In addition, despite some analytical problems that have existed since the law took effect, the Congressional Budget Office CBO has been able to provide the Congress with substantially more information about federal mandates and their costs. At the same time, some Members of Congress and other observers question whether UMRAs definition of intergovernmental mandates is adequate and whether the legislative procedures that apply to private-sector mandates should be bolstered.