[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1941 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.1941
One Hundred Seventeenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two
An Act
To direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to
standardize the use of core-based statistical area designations across
Federal programs, to allow between 120 and 180 days for public comment
on any proposed change to such designations, and to report on the
scientific basis and estimated impact to Federal programs for any
proposed change to such designations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

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This Act may be cited as the ``Metropolitan Areas Protection and
Standardization Act of 2021'' or the ``MAPS Act of 2021''.

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Congress finds the following:
(1) Federal programs use core-based statistical area
delineations to determine the delivery of Federal services,
benefits, and funding to people in the United States, such as in
criteria for eligibility or distribution.
(2) Core-based statistical area delineations provide a
nationally consistent set of standards for collecting, tabulating,
and publishing Federal statistics for geographic areas, and they
are not intended for any public or private sector non-statistical
uses such as program administration or service delivery.
(3) Updates to core-based statistical area delineations may
cause widespread disruption to the delivery of Federal services,
benefits, and funding to people in the United States based on the
reliance of Federal programs on these delineations.
(4) There does not exist any comprehensive list of Federal
programs that rely on core-based statistical area delineations.
Such a list is valuable for the study of how Federal services,
benefits, and funding are distributed to people in the United
States.
(5) Increased transparency on the impacts of any update to
core-based statistical area delineations may be overly burdensome
due to the anticipated variety of Federal programs that rely on
these delineations. Any requirement for complete disclosure of
these impacts prior to implementation of new delineations may
unintentionally cause the existing delineations to ossify.
(6) In order to prevent any disruption to service delivery of
Federal programs based on updates to core-based statistical area
delineations, and ensure the independence of Federal statistical
policymaking, Congress must sever the link between future updates
to core-based statistical area delineations and any automatic
impact on Federal programs that rely on these delineations.

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This purpose of this Act is to ensure--
(1) transparency in how core-based statistical area
delineations are used in domestic assistance programs; and
(2) independence of the Office of Management and Budget in
establishing and updating core-based statistical area delineations.

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In this Act:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given the term
in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) Comptroller general.--The term ``Comptroller General''
means the Comptroller General of the United States.
(3) Core-based statistical area.--The term ``core-based
statistical area'' has the meaning given the term by the Office of
Management and Budget in the Notice of Decision entitled ``2020
Standards for Delineating Core-Based Statistical Areas'', published
in the Federal Register on July 16, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 37770), or
any successor to that Notice.
(4) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget.
(5) Domestic assistance program.--The term ``domestic
assistance program'' has the meaning given the term in section 6101
of title 31, United States Code.
(6) Open government data asset.--The term ``open Government
data asset'' has the meaning given the term in section 3502 of
title 44, United States Code.

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(a) Amendment.--Chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 6309. Non-propagation of core-based statistical area
delineations
``(a) In General.--Beginning on the date of enactment of the MAPS
Act of 2021, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, any change
to the standards of core-based statistical area delineations pursuant
to section 3504(e) of title 44--
``(1) shall not propagate automatically for any non-statistical
use by any domestic assistance program, including any such use as
required through--
``(A) statutory reference to any core-based statistical
area delineation; or
``(B) administrative or regulatory reference to any core-
based statistical area delineation; and
``(2) shall propagate for any non-statistical use by any
domestic assistance program only--
``(A) if a relevant agency determines that such a
propagation--
``(i) supports the purposes of the program; and
``(ii) is in the public interest; and
``(B) through affirmative adoption through notice-and-
comment rulemaking pursuant to section 553 of title 5.
``(b) Definitions.--The definitions in section 4 of the MAPS Act of
2021 shall apply to this section.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for
chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting
after the item relating to section 6308 the following:
``6309. Non-propagation of core-based statistical area delineations.''.

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AREA DELINEATIONS.
(a) In General.--Section 6102(a)(2) of title 31, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as subparagraph (H);
(2) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``and'' at the end; and
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (F) the following:
``(G) uses of core-based statistical area (as defined in
section 4 of the MAPS Act of 2021) delineations (as chosen from
standardized categories of uses determined by the Director),
for purposes including prime recipient and subrecipient
eligibility for, and distribution of, any Federal service,
benefit, or funding; and''.
(b) Content Requirements.--In collecting and reviewing the
information required under section 6102(a)(2)(G) of title 31, United
States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, the Director
shall include as standardized categories--
(1) whether the most current core-based statistical area
delineation has been affirmatively adopted pursuant to section 6309
of title 31, United States Coded, as added by this Act;
(2) which historical core-based statistical area delineation
was maintained, in cases where an updated delineation has not been
affirmatively adopted pursuant to section 6309 of title 31, United
States Coded, as added by this Act;
(3) what purpose the core-based statistical area delineation
serves, including--
(A) to determine eligibility for any Federal service,
benefit, or funding;
(B) to determine distribution of any Federal service,
benefit, or funding; and
(C) any other standardized category of purpose determined
by the Director;
(4) whether the use of core-based statistical area delineation
directly concerns any--
(A) prime recipient of any Federal service, benefit, or
funding; and
(B) subrecipient of any Federal service, benefit, or
funding; and
(5) the date when the information collected in this subsection
was last updated.
(c) Accessibility Requirements.--The Director shall ensure that the
information collected and reviewed under section 6102(a)(2)(G) of title
31, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of this section,
shall be--
(1) publicly accessible as an open Government data asset;
(2) presented in a user-friendly visual format with search and
download capabilities;
(3) easily discoverable by the public on relevant government
websites; and
(4) updated not less frequently than once every year.
(d) Implementation Timeline.--The requirements of this section
shall be fully implemented not later than 2 years after the date of
enactment of this Act.

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STATISTICAL AREA DELINEATIONS.
Section 3504(e) of title 44, United States Code, is amended by--
(1) in paragraph (8)(B)(ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (9)(B), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(10) ensure that any change to the standards of core-based
statistical area (as defined in section 4 of the MAPS Act of 2021)
delineations pursuant to this subsection shall--
``(A) be accompanied by a public report that explains--
``(i) the scientific basis, criteria, and methodology
for such change to existing standards, including clear
quantitative thresholds for determining any future
statistical re-delineations; and
``(ii) the opinions of domestic and international
experts in statistics and demographics, including
government experts at the Bureau of the Census and other
relevant agencies, who were consulted regarding such change
to existing standards;
``(B) not be influenced by any non-statistical
considerations such as impact on program administration or
service delivery; and
``(C) not propagate automatically for any non-statistical
use by any domestic assistance program (as defined in section 4
of the MAPS Act of 2021).''.

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Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight
and Reform of the House of Representatives a report that--
(1) assesses the completeness, timeliness, quality, accuracy,
accessibility, and usefulness of the information reported pursuant
to section 6 and the amendment made by section 6; and
(2) identifies any Federal programs, including any domestic
assistance programs or other programs, that--
(A) use core-based statistical area delineations for any
non-statistical purpose; and
(B) as of the date of the report, are not reported pursuant
to section 6 and the amendment made by section 6; and
(3) if appropriate, includes any recommendations for Federal
agencies or Congress based on the findings described in paragraphs
(1) and (2).
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.

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Metropolitan Areas Protection and Standardization Act of 2021 — S. 1941

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