HMRC Daily Schedule

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Word of the Week

This week's term: Paperwork Reduction Act

Paperwork Reduction Act 



n. ~ a federal law, originally enacted in 1980, intended primarily to reduce the information gathering burden on the public, and substantially revised in 1995 with additional provisions addressing government dissemination of information that hold implications for privacy and open government.

Distinguished From
Government Paperwork Elimination Act

Note
The Paperwork Reduction Act (1980, 1986, and 1995) has been criticized within the records management literature for lawmakers’ failure to embrace records management principles and to understand current recordkeeping practices. A provision in the 1995 reauthorization stating that government agencies shall “provide adequate notice when initiating, substantially modifying, or terminating significant information dissemination products” was referenced in a February 2017 open letter to the Office of Management and Budget. Signed by 71 organizations including the Society of American Archivists, the letter was in response to concerns that government agencies were removing vital information from their websites without adequate public notice.

Although confusing to many people, the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) and the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) are not synonymous. The focus of the PRA is to limit the information the federal government collects from the public in any form. The focus of the GPEA is to promote the doing of business electronically, with the public and otherwise.

Category
Law, Records Management

Cited In
Additional Matter (Contributors, Ads, Council Minutes, Etc.),” The American Archivist 64:2 (September 1, 2001): 414–30. doi:10.17723/aarc.64.2.2p607507xj1wg047: 418

Copeland, Curtis W., and Vanessa K. Burrows, Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA): OMB and Agency Responsibilities and Burden Estimates (Congressional Research Service: June 15, 2009): 1.

Penn, Ira A., “Information Management Legislation in the Last Quarter of the 20th Century: A Records Management Disaster,” ARMA Records Management Quarterly 31:1 (January 1997): 9.

Plocher, D., “The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995: A Second Chance for Information Resources Management.” Government Information Quarterly 13:1 (1996): 41.

Shapiro, Stuart, “The Paperwork Reduction Act: Benefits, Costs and Directions for Reform,” Government Information Quarterly 30:2 (2013): 204.

Society of American Archivists, “SAA Signs on to Letter Regarding Public Notice Before Removing Online Government Information,” (accessed March 26, 2017).

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, “Paperwork Reduction Act,” Justice Information Sharing: Privacy and Civil Liberties (accessed April 6, 2017).


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WHAT IS THIS? Word of the Week is a weekly email service of the Dictionary Working Group of the Society of American Archivists. Featured terms will be included in the new Dictionary of Archives Terminology, which is projected to be available in 2017.

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