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TheInformation Quality Act (IQA), also referred to as theData Quality Act (DQA), is a federal law passed in 2000 requiring theU.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to "provide policy and procedural guidance to Federal agencies for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information (including statistical information) disseminated by Federal agencies." The IQA amended thePaperwork Reduction Act of 1995.^[1][2][3][4]

Background

The Information Quality Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by PresidentBill Clinton (D) as part of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, a more than 700-page bill addressing a number of different topics. Although the law did not have its own title at the time it was passed, it came to be known as both the Information Quality Act and the Data Quality Act. The legislation amended thePaperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995.^[1]

According to a 2004 report about the IQA by theCongressional Research Service (CRS), the 1995 PRA "already required OMB to develop and oversee the implementation of policies, principles, standards, and guidelines to apply to federal agency dissemination of public information. The PRA also required agencies to manage their information resources to improve the integrity, quality, and utility of information to all users within and outside the agency." The IQA added more requirements, including for agencies to establish an error submission and correction process.^[1]

The same CRS report also noted that "there were no hearings or debates on this provision and no committee reports were filed." It further stated that U.S. RepresentativeJo Ann Emerson (R) "is generally regarded as the primary sponsor of the IQA," although according to a footnote, "some press reports attribute the IQA to Jim Tozzi, a former OMB official," who at the time headed the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.^[1] An article on the IQA published by the Center for Progressive Reform, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., claims that "most of Members of Congress voted on the bill without knowing of the provision’s existence."^[4]

Provisions

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The IQA is a short piece of legislation consisting of two provisions. The first provision directs the Office of Management and Budget to issue information quality guidelines for federal agencies to follow:

The second provision of the IQA sets out requirements for those guidelines, including that affected federal agencies must establish a process for people to submit correction requests when they believe that the information quality guidelines have not been followed:

OMB guidelines implementing the IQA

The IQA directed the White HouseOffice of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop and issue guidelines to implement the law. Final guidelines implementing the IQA were published in theFederal Register on February 22, 2002 by theOffice of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a division of OMB. On October 1, 2002, the guideliness took full effect. By this date, agencies subject to the act were required to do the following:^[2][3]

• Provide OMB with agency-specific information quality guidelines
• Provide the opportunity for affected parties to file requests for correction
• Report periodically to OMB on the number and nature of correction requests

According to a research document about the IQA produced by Bergeson & Campbell, a law firm focused on chemical law and regulation, these guidelines include the following standards for assessing the quality of information and data disseminated by federal agencies:^[2]

Agencies subject to the IQA

According to the legal information website FindLaw, the IQA and subsequent implementing guidelines apply to the same federal agencies subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act:^[3]

See also

• Paperwork Reduction Act
• U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
• U.S. Office of Management and Budget

External links

• Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-554)
• "Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies" (February 22, 2002)
• Government Accountability Office reports to Congress on the implementation of the IQA:
  • September 2005
  • August 2006
  • December 2015

Footnotes

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Gardner •A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States •Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp •Auer v. Robbins •Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council •Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe •Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Standard Oil Company of California •Field v. Clark •Food and Drug Administration v. Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation •Humphrey's Executor v. United States •Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) v. Chadha •J.W. Hampton Jr. & Company v. United States •Lucia v. SEC •Marshall v. Barlow's •Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency •Mistretta v. United States •National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius •National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning Company •National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. •Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan •Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation •Skidmore v. Swift & Co. •United States v. Lopez •United States v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. •Universal Camera Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board •Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council •Wayman v. Southard •Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service •Whitman v. American Trucking Associations •Wickard v. Filburn •Wiener v. 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Dresch (2000) "Confronting the Administrative Threat" by Philip Hamburger and Tony Mills (2017) "Constitutionalism after the New Deal" by Cass R. Sunstein (1987) Federalist No. 23 by Alexander Hamilton (1787) "From Administrative State to Constitutional Government" by Joseph Postell (2012) "Interring the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule (2002) "Rulemaking as Legislating" by Kathryn Watts (2015) "The Checks & Balances of the Regulatory State" by Paul R. Verkuil (2016) "The Myth of the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Keith E. Whittington and Jason Iuliano (2017) "The Progressive Origins of the Administrative State: Wilson, Goodnow, and Landis" by Ronald J. Pestritto (2007) "The Rise and Rise of the Administrative State" by Gary Lawson (1994) "The Study of Administration" by Woodrow Wilson (1887) "The Threat to Liberty" by Steven F. Hayward (2017) "Why the Modern Administrative State Is Inconsistent with the Rule of Law" by Richard A. Epstein (2008) Agencies Administrative Conference of the United States •United States Civil Service Commission •U.S. Government Accountability Office •U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs •U.S. Office of Management and Budget