MS. WAGNER: Welcome to Learning to Live With the Data Quality Act. I am Wendy Wagner, a professor at the University of Texas Law School.
In the year 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the Data Quality Act (DQA) as a rider to an appropriations bill. There was no legislative history indicating what Congress meant when it required agencies to establish processes to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information they disseminate. Instead, Congress directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and ultimately the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at OMB, to provide guidance on what this one-sentence, legislative requirement means.
Paul Noe is the Counselor to the Administrator at the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). His responsibilities include regulatory review, information quality, small business issues, and OIRA's Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations. Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Mr. Noe served as Senior Counsel to Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) on the Senate Government Affairs Committee. Frederick R. Anderson is a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, resident in the Washington, D.C., office. Sidney A. Shapiro is the Rounds Professor of Law at the University of Kansas. He is a founder and board member of the Center for Progressive Regulation. His latest book is Risk Regulation At Risk: Restoring A Pragmatic Balance. James Tozzi serves on the board of advisors for the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, in Washington, D.C. David Hawkins is Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center. Wendy E. Wagner is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. This is an edited transcript of a program held at the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice 2002 Administrative Law Conference, held in Washington, D.C., October 17, 2002. This transcript is published with the permission of the ABA; the views expressed have not been approved by the ABA House of Delegates and do not constitute the position of the ABA.
