As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on July 11, 2012
H.R. 4100 would strengthen the authority of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to enforce fisheries laws and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by foreign vessels. The bill would establish uniform enforcement policies and procedures under the many federal statutes that govern the regulation of commercial fishing. The bill also would reauthorize funding through fiscal year 2017 to enforce certain fisheries laws and to assist other nations with fishery conservation programs and enforcement activities. Finally, the bill would amend the Tuna Conventions Act of 1950 to implement the Antigua Convention.
Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4100 would cost $73 million over the 2013-2017 period. Enacting H.R. 4100 could increase revenues (from civil and criminal penalties) and associated direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that such increases would be less than $500,000 annually and would offset each other in most years.
CBO has not reviewed title II of the bill for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates because we have determined that it falls within one of the exclusions set out in section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). That section excludes from the application of UMRA any legislative provisions that are necessary for the ratification or implementation of international treaty obligations.
The remaining provisions of H.R. 4100 contain no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
