H.R. 724, the CBO Show Your Work Act, would require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to publicly publish the models, data preparation routines, and the computations used to produce cost estimates and related fiscal analyses of proposed legislation. In addition to making the models and data available, the bill would require that for each estimate the data, programs, models, assumptions, and other computational details be provided to allow replication by people not employed by CBO, subject to legal restrictions on data disclosure. When data cannot be disclosed, the bill requires disclosure of a data variables list, descriptive statistics (as allowed), the statute prohibiting disclosure, and contact information for unrestricted access. The publishing requirement would take effect six months after enactment.
Key Points
- 1Publication of all models and data: The Director of the CBO must publicly share every fiscal model, policy model, and data preparation routine that CBO uses to estimate costs and other fiscal or economic effects of legislation, including updates to those models.
- 2Replicability: For each legislative estimate, CBO must provide the data, programs, models, assumptions, and other computational details needed to permit replication by non-CBO individuals.
- 3Exceptions for restricted data: If some data cannot be disclosed, the bill still requires a complete list of data variables, descriptive statistics for those variables (to the extent allowed), a statute reference explaining why disclosure isn’t allowed, and contact information for accessing the data through unrestricted channels.
- 4Public access: The information would be available to Members of Congress and publicly on the CBO website.
- 5Effective date: The publication requirements apply six months after enactment.
- 6Short title: The bill is called the “CBO Show Your Work Act.”