As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 14, 2013
CBO estimates that implementing S. 276 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 12423) at the American Falls Reservoir in Idaho. The proposed extension could have a minor impact on FERC’s workload. Because FERC recovers 100 percent of its costs through user fees, any change in its administrative costs would be offset by an equal change in fees that the commission charges. Therefore, the legislation’s provisions would have no net budgetary impact.
Because FERC’s administrative costs are controlled through annual appropriation acts, enacting S. 276 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 276 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.