Unfunded mandate

An unfunded mandate is a statute that requires government or private parties to carry out specific actions, but does not appropriate any funds for that purpose.

Examples

• The provisions in the Americans with Disabilities Act that require nearly all American business owners to make their business premises available to disabled customers, without providing any funds for the cost of reconstruction or additional interior space
• The provisions in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act that require nearly all American emergency rooms to accept and stabilize any patient regardless of the patient's ability to pay, but do not provide adequate reimbursement for indigent patients

References

• The head ignores the feet, The Economist, May 22, 2003.
• King, David C.: Election Reform as an Unfunded Mandate, Sep. 3, 2001.
• Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, a US bill intended to limit the number of unfunded mandates that can be enacted by the federal government