HR5301-118

In Committee

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require agencies to include a list of outdated or duplicative reporting requirements in annual budget justifications, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Aug 29, 2023

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does
The Eliminate Useless Reports Act requires federal agencies to include in their annual budget justifications a list of all recurring reports submitted to Congress, identify which ones are outdated or duplicative, and recommend whether each should be sunset, modified, consolidated, or reduced in frequency. This creates a systematic process for Congress to eliminate unnecessary reporting burdens.

Who Benefits and How
Federal agencies benefit from reduced reporting burden when unnecessary reports are eliminated. Congress gains a consolidated view of all agency reporting requirements to make informed decisions about streamlining. Taxpayers save money when agencies spend less time preparing duplicative or obsolete reports. OMB gains oversight authority to coordinate across agencies on multi-agency reports.

Who Bears the Burden and How
Agency heads must compile lists of all recurring reports, determine which are outdated, provide legal citations, identify relevant committees, and justify their recommendations. When reports involve multiple agencies, OMB must determine whether they're duplicative and make recommendations. Agencies must consult with each other on joint reports before recommending elimination.

Key Provisions
- Agencies must list all recurring congressional reports in budget justifications
- Each report must include legal citation and relevant committee information
- Outdated/duplicative reports must include sunset or modification recommendations
- Multi-agency reports reviewed by OMB Director for duplication
- Recommendations submitted to Government Publishing Office online portal
- Does not exempt agencies from existing reporting requirements
- OMB must issue implementation guidance within 180 days

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Requires federal agencies to identify outdated or duplicative congressional reporting requirements in their budget justifications, with recommendations to sunset, modify, consolidate, or reduce frequency of reports.

Key Policy Areas

Government Operations, Federal Budget, Congressional Oversight

Primary Purpose

Requires federal agencies to identify outdated or duplicative congressional reporting requirements in their budget justifications, with recommendations to sunset, modify, consolidate, or reduce frequency of reports.

Policy Domains

Government Operations Federal Budget Congressional Oversight

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
Nov 13, 2024

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland …

Aug 29, 2023

Mr. Robert Garcia of California (for himself and Mr. Grothman) …

Impact analysis is available but no clear stakeholder effects identified. View clause-level analysis →

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Government Operations Congressional Oversight
Actor Mappings
"the_director"
→ Director of Office of Management and Budget
"the_director_gpo"
→ Director of Government Publishing Office

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

2 terms
"plan or report" §1125(a)(2)

Any plan or report submitted to Congress by at least one agency in accordance with federal law or at congressional direction

"recurring plan or report" §1125(a)(3)

A plan or report submitted on a recurring basis

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology