PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT: Burden Estimates Continue to Increase

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 PRA. As you requested, I will discuss changes in federal paperwork burden during the past year, with a particular focus on the Internal Revenue Service IRS and its small business initiatives. I will also revisit an issue that we have discussed during previous hearings violations of the PRA in which information collection authorizations from the Office of Management and Budget OMB either expired or were otherwise inconsistent with the acts provisions. In brief, the data indicate that federal paperwork increased by nearly 180 million burden hours during fiscal year 2000 the second-largest 1-year increase since the act was passed. This increase is largely attributable to IRS, which raised its paperwork estimate by about 240 million burden hours. The rest of the government decreased its burden estimate by about 70 million burden hours during the fiscal year. Within that non-IRS grouping, some agencies were more successful than others in reducing their paperwork estimates and some increased their estimates. Also, some of the reductions in agencies estimates were not attributable to proactive agency actions to reduce burden. Federal agencies identified a total of 487 violations of the PRA during fiscal year 2000--fewer than the 710 that they identified during fiscal year 1999. However, even though the number of violations appears to be going down, 487 PRA violations in a 1-year period is hardly a cause for celebration. Also, some of these PRA violations have been going on for years, and they collectively represent substantial opportunity costs. As we have said for the past 2 years, we believe that OMB can do more to ensure that agencies do not use information collections without proper clearance.