Sec. 126. Study on economic and budgetary analyses

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Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to— carry out a study on the economic principles and analytical methodologies currently used by or applied to the Corps of Engineers to formulate, evaluate, and budget for water resources development projects; and make recommendations to Congress on potential changes to such principles and methodologies to improve transparency, return on Federal investment, cost savings, and prioritization, in the formulation, evaluation, and budgeting of such projects. The study under subsection

(a)shall include— an analysis of the current economic principles and analytical methodologies used by or applied to the Corps of Engineers in determining the total benefits and total costs during the formulation of, and plan selection for, a water resources development project; an analysis of improvements or alternatives to how the Corps of Engineers utilizes the National Economic Development, Regional Economic Development, Environmental Quality, and Other Social Effects accounts developed by the Institute for Water Resources of the Corps of Engineers in the formulation of, and plan selection for, such projects; an analysis of whether such principles and methodologies fully account for all of the potential benefits of project alternatives, including any reasonably associated benefits of such alternatives that are not contrary to law, Federal policy, or sound water resources management; an analysis of whether such principles and methodologies fully account for all of the costs of project alternatives, including potential societal costs, such as lost ecosystem services, and full lifecycle costs for such alternatives; and an analysis of the methodologies utilized by the Federal Government in setting and applying discount rates for benefit-cost analyses used in the formulation, evaluation, and budgeting of Corps of Engineers water resources development projects. The agreement entered into under subsection

(a)shall require the National Academy of Sciences to, not later than 30 days after the completion of the study— submit a report containing the results of the study and the recommendations to the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; and make a copy of such report available on a publicly accessible website. It is the sense of Congress that the President, in the formulation of the annual budget request for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Civil Works), should submit to Congress a budget that— aligns the assessment of the potential benefit-cost ratio for budgeting water resources development projects with that used by the Corps of Engineers during project plan formulation and evaluation pursuant to section 80 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1974 ( 42 U.S.C. 1962d–17 ); and demonstrates the transparent criteria and metrics utilized by the President in the evaluation and selection of water resources development projects included in the budget request.

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42 USC 1962d–17

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Sec. 126

Study on economic and budgetary analyses

Cite42 USC 1962d–17

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