The following is a report prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. It has been coverted to a text-only format below by GovTrack.

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                    CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
                           COST ESTIMATE

                                                                             June 18, 2007



                                         S. 381
            Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment
               of Latin Americans of Japanese Descent Act

           As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security
                       and Governmental Affairs on June 13, 2007


S. 381 would establish the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Latin
Americans of Japanese Descent to investigate and determine the facts and circumstances
surrounding the relocation, internment, and deportation of Latin Americans of Japanese
descent from December 1941 through February 1948.

Under S. 381, nine commission members—three appointed by the President, three appointed
by the Speaker of the House of Representative, and three appointed by the President pro
tempore of the Senate—would have one year to report to the Congress on its findings,
recommendations, and possible remedies. Commission members who are not federal
employees would be compensated for their services. In addition, all commission members
would be reimbursed for travel expenses. Under the bill, the commission could hire staff or
use personnel detailed from other federal agencies. The commission would terminate 90
days after submitting its final report.

Based on the costs of similar commissions, CBO estimates that the commission would spend
about $500,000 over the 2008-2009 period subject to appropriation of the necessary amounts.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues. The legislation does not
authorize any payment of restitution; such authority would require a separate act of the
Congress.

S. 381 would impose both intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) because it would establish a commission with the
authority to subpoena information. State, local, and tribal governments, as well as private-
sector entities, if subpoenaed by the commission, would be required to provide testimony,
documents, or other evidence. CBO expects that the commission would likely exercise this
authority sparingly and that the costs to comply with a subpoena would not be significant.
Thus, CBO estimates that the costs to those governments and private-sector entities would
be small and well below the annual thresholds established in UMRA ($66 million for
intergovernmental mandates and $131 million for private-sector mandates in 2007, adjusted
annually for inflation). Furthermore, S. 381 would direct the commission to pay a per diem
and mileage allowance to any witness who appears before the commission from funds
available to pay the expenses of the commission.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Matthew Pickford (for federal costs), Elizabeth
Cove (for state and local impact), and Jacob Kuipers (for the private-sector impact). This
estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.




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