H.R. 3076 would require the Office of Management and Budget to create an electronic form that would allow individual users to consent to have a Member of Congress act on their behalf in matters concerning any federal agency. Under current law, most constituent services performed by federal agencies are provided using a paper process.
CBO is unaware of any electronic authentication program currently under development or planned in the near term that features three-person authentication (constituent, agency, and Congressional staff). In addition, CBO is unaware of any comprehensive information on the amount of work that legislative branch employees provide for constituent services.
Login.gov—an online system that offers about 4 million users secure, private access to 10 participating federal programs—cost about $15 million to develop. On that basis, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3076 by adding another secure access point to login.gov would cost less than $1 million per major federal agency. Estimated costs over the 2019-2023 period, most of which would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds, would total about $15 million.
Enacting H.R. 3076 could affect direct spending by some agencies because they are authorized to use receipts from the sale of goods and from fees and other collections to cover operating costs. Therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because most agencies can adjust the amounts collected as their operating costs change, CBO estimates any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be insignificant. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3076 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 3076 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
