Zero-based Budgeting Ensures Responsible Oversight (ZERO) Act of 2013

Zero-based Budgeting Ensures Responsible Oversight (ZERO) Act of 2013 - Requires the President to submit with materials related to each federal budget transmitted to Congress by January 1, 2015, a budget for each agency that contains:

• a description of each activity for which an agency receives an appropriation in the current fiscal year or for which the agency requests an appropriation for the budget year;
• the legal basis for each activity;
• for each activity, three alternative funding levels for the budget year (at least two of which shall be below the funding level for the current fiscal year), a summary of the priorities that would be accomplished within each level, and the additional increments of value that would be added by the higher funding levels; and
• for each activity one or more measures of its cost efficiency and effectiveness.

Requires the  Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to publish guidelines to carry out this Act that shall require: (1) the baseline budget of each agency to be assumed to be zero, and (2) each proposed expenditure to be justified as if it were a new expenditure.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 239 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 239

  To require zero-based budgeting for departments and agencies of the 
                              Government.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 14, 2013

   Mr. Ross introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on the Budget

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require zero-based budgeting for departments and agencies of the 
                              Government.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Zero-based Budgeting Ensures 
Responsible Oversight (ZERO) Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. ZERO-BASED BUDGETING.

    Section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i)(1) The President shall submit with materials related to each 
budget transmitted under subsection (a) on or after January 1, 2015, a 
budget for each department and agency which contains the following 
information:
            ``(A) A description of each activity for which the 
        department or agency receives an appropriation in the current 
        fiscal year or for which the department or agency requests an 
        appropriation for the budget year.
            ``(B) The legal basis for each activity.
            ``(C) For each activity, three alternative funding levels 
        for the budget year, and a summary of the priorities that would 
        be accomplished within each level, and the additional 
        increments of value that would be added by the higher funding 
        levels. At least two of these funding levels shall be below the 
        funding level for the current fiscal year.
            ``(D) For each activity, one or more measures of its cost 
        efficiency and effectiveness.
    ``(2) As soon as practicable, the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall publish guidelines to carry out this 
subsection. The guidelines shall require that the baseline budget of 
each department or agency is assumed to be zero and each proposed 
expenditure shall be justified as if it were a new expenditure.''.
                                 <all>