8. E-Government Act of 2002

• Pages: 469-508

469

E-GOVERNMENT ACT OF 2002

8

E-Government

Act of 2002

469

Citations:

Pub. L. No. 107-347, 116 Stat. 2899, (Dec. 17, 2002), codified inter

alia at 44 U.S.C.A. §§3601-3606 (2007), 40 U.S.C. §305 (Supp IV 2004),

and 44 U.S.C.A. §3501 note (2007).

Lead Agency:

The Office of E-Government and Information Technology, Office of

Management and Budget, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, 1650 Penn-

sylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20502, (202) 395-1181.

Overview:

The E-Government Act of 2002 (H.R. 2458/S. 803) was signed by the

President on December 17, 2002, with an effective date for most provisions

of April 17, 2003. It was intended to further the federal government’s ap-

proach to information dissemination in the Internet Age. It contains many

requirements for the government, but the main provisions of interest to ad-

ministrative lawyers are those that require:

•Public Information. To the extent practicable, agencies must provide

a website that includes all “information about that agency” required

to be published in the Federal Register under 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(1)

and (2).1

1Id. at §206(b). But note that subsection 552(a)(2) of Title 5 does not, by

its terms, require publication of any documents, only making specified docu-

ments available for public inspection and copying. Of course many agencies

now publish these materials on their websites.

470 E-GOVERNMENT ACT OF 2002

8

•Electronic Submission. To the extent practicable, agencies must ac-

cept electronically those submissions made in rulemaking under 5

U.S.C. §553(c).2

•Electronic Dockets. To the extent practicable, agencies must have an

internet-accessible rulemaking docket that includes all public com-

ments and other materials that by agency rule or practice are in-

cluded in the agency docket, whether or not electronically submitted.3

•Privacy Impact Assessments. OMB is required to develop guidelines

for privacy notices on agency websites, and agencies must conduct

“privacy impact assessments” before collecting information that will

be collected, maintained, or disseminated using information tech-

nology and that “includes any information in an identifiable form

permitting the physical or online contacting of a specific individual,

if identical questions have been posed to, or identical reporting re-

quirements imposed on, 10 or more persons, other than” federal agen-

cies or employees.4 It should be noted here that a number of agencies

are also required by a recent appropriations act to do a special pri-

vacy assessment for proposed rules “on the privacy of information in

an identifiable form, including the type of personally identifiable

information collected and the number of people affected.”5

The Act also served to codify many of the White House’s E-Government

Initiatives. It codifies OMB’s role by creating an E-Administrator and Office

of E-Government in OMB. It endorses and requires agencies to support cross

agency initiatives such as E-Rulemaking, Geospatial One-Stop, E-Records

Management, E-Authentication (especially E-signatures) and Disaster Man-

agement; FirstGov (now USA.gov); and enterprise architecture). And it au-

thorizes funds for these activities.

The Act also created new responsibilities for OMB to:

•File an annual report to Congress

2Id. at §206(c).

3Id. at §206(d).

4Id. at §208.

5Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 Pub. L. No. 108-447, 118 Stat.

2809, 3268 division H, §522(a)(5) (codified at 5 U.S.C.A. §552a note) (2004)

(covering agencies within the Transportation, Treasury, Independent Agencies,

and General Government Appropriations Act).

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E-GOVERNMENT ACT OF 2002

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•Sponsor ongoing dialogue with state, local, and tribal governments,

as well as the general public, the private, and the non-profit sectors

to find innovative ways to improve the performance of governments

in collaborating on the use of information technology to improve the

delivery of Government information and services

•Set standards for categorizing and indexing government information

•Set standards for agency web sites

•Create a public directory for agency web sites

•Select agencies to engage in pilot projects on data integration

•Improve access for people with and without computers

Title I and much of Title II of this lengthy Act, covering the above e-

government provisions are reproduced in this Sourcebook. Other provisions

in Title II authorize agencies to award “share-in-savings” contracts under

which contractors share in the savings achieved by agencies through the pro-

vision of technologies that improve or accelerate their work. Under these

provisions, the executive branch is supposed to ensure, consistent with appli-

cable law, that these contracts are operated according to sound fiscal policy

and limit authorized waivers for funding of potential termination costs to

appropriate circumstances, so as to minimize the financial risk to the Govern-

ment.

Title III of this Act is the Federal Information Security Management Act

of 2002. It is very similar to Title X of the Homeland Security Act of 2002,

also known as the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002

(codified principally at 44 U.S.C. §§3541-49). Title IV contains an authori-

zation of appropriations and effective dates. Title V contains a series of sec-

tion devoted to Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency.

Legislative History:

Rep Jim Turner (D-TX) introduced H.R. 2458 with 40 co-sponsors on

July 11, 2001. It was referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Pro-

curement Policy on September 18, 2002. The Subcommittee held hearings

on October 1, 2002. The bill was forwarded by the Subcommittee to the full

Committee by voice vote on October 8, 2002. It was reported to the House

Floor Committee on Government Reform, on November 14, 2002 (with sub-

stitute language), H. Rep. No. 107-787 (Part I), 107th Cong. 2d Sess. After

being referred sequentially to the House Judiciary Committee, it was dis-