As ordered reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security on January 21, 2015
H.R. 399 would authorize the appropriation of $1 billion for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2025 for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to carry out a wide range of border security activities required by the bill. The bill also would authorize the appropriation of $110 million annually over the 2015-2019 period for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants and $30 million annually to fund transfers of border patrol agents to new locations along the border.
Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 399 would cost about $4.2 billion over the 2015-2020 period. Pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply to this legislation because it would not affect direct spending or revenues.
H.R. 399 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).
H.R. 399 would impose a private-sector mandate, as defined in UMRA, on landowners if, in order to comply with provisions of the bill, DHS acquires property by means of condemnation. The cost of the mandate would be the fair-market value of the property taken from landowners and would depend on the location and size of the property. CBO expects DHS would make limited use of its authority to take land by condemnation and that, if the authority is used, the cost of the mandate in any one year would probably fall below the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($154 million in 2015, adjusted annually for inflation).
