Friday, March 26, 2010

Census and the Paperwork Reduction Act...conflicting interests?

If you read the entry below this you can see what I'm so aggravated about....this is the FIRST time I've posted twice in one day, so you know I've got a "bee in my bonnet"!  Since I'm so aggravated about the Census Waste, I dug a little bit more because it just makes NO sense to me. Does this seem like a conflict of interest to you? Look what I found:

Paperwork Reduction Act

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The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-511, 94 Stat. 2812 (Dec. 11, 1980), codified in part at Subchapter I of Chapter 35 of Title 44 of the United States Code, 44 U.S.C. § 3501 through 44 U.S.C. § 3521, is a United States federal law enacted in 1980 that gave authority over the collection of certain information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Within the OMB, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) was established with specific authority to regulate matters regarding federal information and to establish information policies. These information policies were intended to reduce the total amount of paperwork handled by the United States government and the general public.

The PRA mandates that all federal government agencies must obtain a Control Number from OMB before promulgating a form that will impose an information collection burden on the general public. Once obtained, approval must be renewed every three years. In order to obtain or renew such approval, an agency must fill out OMB Form 83-I, attach the proposed form, and file it with OIRA. On Form 83-I, the agency must explain the reason why the form is needed and estimate the burden in terms of time and money that the form will impose upon the persons required to fill it out.

The process created by the PRA makes OIRA into a centralized clearinghouse for all government forms. Thus, it is able to assess the overall impact of the government bureaucracy on American citizens and businesses. This is done in an annual document called the Information Collection Budget of the United States Government.

Hmmm there has certainly NOT been a reduction in paperwork but a propegation of paperwork!  Shame on the government for the WASTE.

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