By Sara Meyers (MPP ’09)
Many fear that, left to their own devices, many government agencies would likely expand needless forms, reporting requirements, and surveys. The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) attempts to throttle this reflex by subjecting any request for information from the public to lengthy review. The aim is to protect citizens, businesses, grantees, and nonprofits from having to provide information the government doesn’t truly need. It’s all well-intentioned, but the resulting choreography is a nightmare.1
In attempting to reduce burden and paperwork, the PRA paradoxically creates more of it within government. Compliance requires agencies to comprehensively detail and justify every bit of information they plan to collect from the public. Because of the long procedural timeline, agencies are often forced to submit this documentation well before critical program and implementation details are ironed out. The process obstructs iteration and comes with an opportunity cost, wasting effort that could have been directed at meaningful program development.
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Factory Settings, January 14, 2026