The Data Quality Act, a little-known law inserted into a huge 2001 budget bill, is undermining government protections of public health and the environment. The Bush administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which has overseen the law's implementation, has obscured and even omitted the situation from a new report to Congress. The law was added as a brief rider to the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2001, and took effect in October 2002. It directed the OMB to instruct federal agencies on setting standards for the quality of scientific and statistical information they use and distribute. It also required agencies to accept and review challenges to their data. OMB Watch, a nonprofit that monitors the OMB, has found that OMB, in its report to Congress, significantly undercounted the number of challenges made under the law, and understated the extent to which industries are challenging information that affects their business interests. OMB reported to Congress that there have been no slowdowns in the regulatory process as a result of the law. However, it did not ask federal agencies the amount of time or money they are spending on implementation, or for input on how the law is affecting the speed with which agencies make and implement regulations. Industries are also trying to use the law to block distribution of information. Although no such challenges have succeeded so far, the attempts suggest how the law could chill even intra-agency information disseminations. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has a bill modeled after the federal version called the "State Data Quality Act." For more information on the state version, visit: http://www.serconline.org/alec/alec18.html.

Ran 8/9/04