Analysis: HHS is No. 1 in violations of anti-paperwork law

{mosads}The Paperwork Reduction Act requires federal agencies to justify information collections that put a paperwork burden on individuals and businesses. 

HHS has violated the statute “either by collecting information without proper approval or allowing collections to lapse without following the renewal process,” according to the American Action Forum.

Many of HHS’s violations come from regulations that implement parts of the Affordable Care Act. All told, HHS has violated the Paperwork Reduction Act on regulations that add up to more than 700,000 hours of regulatory burdens and cost more than $13.6 million, according to the AAF analysis.

“HHS lacked the legal authority to compel the collection of information, but still imposed the paperwork,” the conservative think tank’s analysis said.

Although the Defense Department surpassed HHS in violations in 2011, the health department has accrued the most cumulative violations since 2009.