AN ACT
To establish a commission responsible for identifying Federal growth incentives, identifying an optimal Gross Domestic Product, and reducing aggregate economic growth to environmentally and socially sustainable levels.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Commission on Economic Sustainability Act.”
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION.
(a) Congress finds that—
(1) A well-maintained and non-degraded environment is the foundation of a productive economy;
(2) A productive economy is vital the national defense;
(3) There is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and environmental protection;
(4) Therefore, there is also a fundamental conflict between economic growth and the long-term maintenance of a productive economy, and between economic growth and national defense.
(b) Congress further finds that—
(1) The fundamental conflict between economic growth and long-term economic maintenance will result in costs disproportionately borne by frontline and vulnerable communities; and
(2) There is currently no entity responsible for measuring, monitoring, and coordinating Federal efforts to reduce economic growth to environmentally and socially sustainable levels.
(c) Congress declares that —
(1) Establishing a Commission on Economic Sustainability is in the interest of the United States.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(a) In this Act—
(1) The term “Act” means the Commission on Economic Sustainability Act;
(2) The term “Commission” means the Commission on Economic Sustainability;
(3) The term “Chair” means the Chair of the Commission on Economic Sustainability;
(4) The term “growth” means an increase in the production and consumption of goods and services in the aggregate, as measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reflecting the growth of population times consumption per capita, and entailing higher throughput of materials and energy and therefore a growing ecological footprint;
(5) The term “ecological footprint” means the requirements and impact of an economy or population on natural resources and wildlife habitats, including the use or degradation of natural capital stocks, and the cumulative area required for the production and consumption of goods and services; and
(6) The term “steady state economy” means an economy with stabilized or mildly fluctuating real GDP, maintained by a rate of throughput within the regenerative and assimilative capacities of the ecosystem.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT.
(a) FORMATION.— There is hereby established a Commission on Economic Sustainability.
(b) STRUCTURE.— The Commission shall be chaired by the Secretary of the Interior and shall include the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Energy, and Commerce.
SEC. 5. REPORT ON FEDERAL GROWTH INCENTIVES.
(a) PRODUCTION.— The Chair shall produce a report that identifies all Federal activities that incentivize economic growth.
(1) “Federal Activities” shall include all funded and unfunded rules, regulations, policies, programs, laws, and initiatives implemented by all Federal commissions, departments, agencies, and offices.
(b) DELIVERY.—The Chair shall deliver this report to the President no later than January 1, 2026.
SEC. 6. REPORT ON SUSTAINABLE POPULATION AND OPTIMAL GDP.
(a) PRODUCTION.— The Chair shall produce a report that identifies environmentally sustainable levels of population and provides estimates of socially optimal levels of GDP for the United States.
(b) DELIVERY.—The Chair shall deliver this report to the President no later than January 1, 2028.
SEC. 7. STEADY-STATE TRANSITION PLAN.
(a) PRODUCTION.— The Chair shall produce a 25-year plan detailing and scheduling the policy amendments, additions, and deletions necessary to establish a steady state economy at an estimated optimal level of GDP.
(b) REFERENCE.— The Chair shall reference the Report on Federal Growth Incentives and the Report on Sustainable Population and Optimal GDP when developing the plan specified in this subsection.
(c) DELIVERY.—The Chair shall deliver the plan to the President no later than January 1, 2030.
SEC. 8. COMMISSION ON ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY ANNUAL REPORT.
(a) PRODUCTION.— Commencing in the second year following the date of enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the Chair shall produce an annual report for the President, made available to the public and distributed in the Federal Register, no later than the close of the calendar year summarizing —
(1) The action taken during the previous fiscal year in the exercise of the Chair’s functions; including —
(A) An analysis of the effectiveness of that action in enabling the general duty of the Chair to be fulfilled;
(B) The Chair’s work plan for the contemporaneous fiscal year.