CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3447 would have no net effect on the federal budget. The bill would authorize the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reinstate the license and extend the deadline for beginning construction of a hydroelectric project (number 12642) involving the W. Kerr Scott Hydropower Project in North Carolina. The proposed extension could have a minor impact on FERC’s workload; however, because FERC recovers 100 percent of its costs through user fees, any change in that agency’s costs (which are controlled through annual appropriation acts) would be offset by an equal change in fees that the commission charges, resulting in no net change in federal spending.
Enacting H.R. 3447 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3447 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 3447 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On December 9, 2016, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 2083, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on November 19, 2015. The two bills are similar, and the CBO cost estimates are the same.
