Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980

The Paperwork Reduction Act requires all proposed regulations to be analyzed for the paperwork that they require and that paperwork be reduced to a minimum. A regulation which creates a new paperwork requirement must be cleared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 - Amends the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 to: (1) extend its purview to educational and nonprofit institutions, Federal contractors, and tribal governments; (2) revise the authority and functions of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), specifying information dissemination and related agency oversight responsibilities; and (3) require OMB to conduct pilot projects to test alternative policies and procedures, and to develop a governmentwide strategic information resources management plan.

Requires the OIRA Director to establish an Interagency Council on Statistical Policy.

Requires each Federal agency to: (1) establish a process, independent of program responsibility, to evaluate proposed collections of information; (2) manage information resources to reduce information collection burdens on the public; and (3) ensure that the public has timely and equitable access to information products and services.

Prohibits agencies, except where specifically authorized by statute, from: (1) establishing exclusive, restricted, or other distribution arrangements that interfere with timely and equitable public availability; (2) restricting or regulating the use, resale, or redissemination of public information by the public; (3) charging fees or royalties for resale or redissemination of public information; or (4) establishing user fees that exceed the cost of dissemination.

Specifies actions agencies must take with respect to information technology.

Replaces the Federal Information Locator System with an agency-based electronic Government Information Locator Service to identify the major information systems, holdings, and dissemination products of each agency.

Reauthorizes appropriations for OIRA.

Amends Federal law to preclude the Secretary of Commerce, for specified periods of time, from selecting certain types of organizations or entities that participated in past surveys for participation in new surveys used to prepare the Quarterly Financial Report for Manufacturing, Mining, and Trade Corporations.

Requires the Secretary to furnish advice and similar assistance, including establishing a toll-free telephone number, to ease the burden of a small business concern which is attempting to compile and furnish information for the survey.

Directs the Secretary to expand the use of statistical sampling techniques to select organizations and entities having assets less than $100 million to participate in the survey.

Full PDF: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

Federal Register: Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980