By Larry Jones
April 25, 2005

The Conference of Mayors is conducting a survey to document the cost of unfunded mandates and other federal cost shifts to cities. The survey was faxed to mayors of cities with a population over 30,000 on April 12. Mayors are urged to complete the survey as soon as possible and fax it back to the Conference of Mayors at 202-293-2352 or it can be completed online at usmayors.org/mandates. The results of the survey will be announced at a press conference in June during the Annual Conference of Mayors meeting in Chicago.

At an April 14 Senate subcommittee hearing, Senator George Voinovich (OH) said it is time for the Conference and other state and local groups to get together and come up with recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The statement was prompted by recent reports that document that while UMRA has been somewhat successful in restraining mandates as defined in the act, Congress and federal agencies are finding more ways to shift the cost of federal programs to state and local governments.

As Governor of Ohio ten years ago when UMRA was enacted, Voinovich fought hard for its enactment. Now as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Work Force and the District of Columbia, he wants to work with state and local groups to strengthen the act.

Ten years ago, UMRA was a top legislative priority for just about every state and local government in the nation. They all had high expectations that the legislation would restrain the federal government from imposing new costly unfunded mandates on state and local governments. Unfortunately, UMRA has not lived up to these high expectations. Instead, recent studies conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that Congress and federal agencies are continuing to shift the costs of a growing number of federal programs to state and local governments.

During the hearing, Orice Williams from the GAO told members of the Senate panel that some federal statutes and rules fall outside of UMRA coverage and have the potential of imposing significant financial burdens on state and local governments. He said "Éat least 43 statutes and 65 rules issued in 2001 and 2002 resulted in new costs or other negative financial impacts that affected parties might perceive as unfunded mandates or under funded mandates even though they did not meet UMRA's definition of a mandate."

Elizabeth Robinson from the CBO also explained that some federal requirements that state and local officials view as burdensome are not considered unfunded mandates under UMRA. She explained that these include the No Child Left Behind Act, the Individuals With Disabilities in Education Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, as well as many changes to the Medicaid program.

A number of recommendations were suggested during the hearing to improve the effectiveness of UMRA. Most are aimed at expanding UMRA's definition and subjecting more federal cost shifts (proposed bills and rules that currently are not covered) to UMRA's cost-estimating and point of order provisions. Another recommendation is to increase the number of votes necessary to remove a point of order (a parliamentary procedural roadblock of an unfunded mandate on the House and Senate floor) from a simple majority to a super majority.

The Conference and other state and local groups have agreed to work together to develop recommendations to improve the effectiveness of UMRA as Voinovich requested.