The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) is a United States
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
that establishes processes for the federal government to modernize its
data management
Data management comprises all disciplines related to handling data as a valuable resource, it is the practice of managing an organization's data so it can be analyzed for decision making.
Concept
The concept of data management emerged alongsi ...
practices, evidence-building functions, and statistical efficiency to inform policy decisions.
The Evidence Act contains four parts ("titles"), which address evidence capacity, open data (''OPEN Government Data Act''), and data confidentiality (the reauthorization of the
).
Legislative history
The bill was introduced in the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
by former House Speaker
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the ...
of
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
on October 31, 2017.
filed counterpart legislation in the U.S. Senate. Rep. Ryan and Sen. Murray acknowledged that the basis of the legislation was a set of recommendations issued by the
U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking
The U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking was a 15-member agency in the federal government charged by the Us congress, US Congress and the President with examining how government could better use its existing data to provide evidence for ...
. The Evidence Act addresses half of the recommendations from that commission.
In November 2017, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform advanced the bill, which was approved unanimously by the full House. The Senate advanced a modified version of the bill in December 2018, which returned to the House for a final vote. The U.S. president signed the bill into law on January 14, 2019.
Implementation
Federal agencies have undertaken extensive activities to support implementation of the Evidence Act, beginning in 2019. Many activities are documented in a report from the Data Foundation describing the status of the Evidence Commission's recommendations after 5-years.
The federal government also published new resources that describe implementation progress that reflect respective titles of the law. For example:
* Title 1 relates to evidence-building functions and evaluation with additional information available a
evaluation.gov* Title 2 relates to data management and chief data officers with additional information available a
cdo.govand through the Federal Data Strategy
* Title 3 relates to statistical policy with additional information available a
statspolicy.gov
See also
*
Open data in the United States
Open data in the United States refers to the Federal government of the United States' perspectives, policies, and practices regarding open data.
History
In the 1970s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began releasing weather infor ...
*
U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking
The U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking was a 15-member agency in the federal government charged by the Us congress, US Congress and the President with examining how government could better use its existing data to provide evidence for ...
, est. March 2016
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018PDFdetails
as amended in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection
H.R.4174 - Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018
bill information on Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the online database of United States Congress legislative information. Congress.gov is a joint project of the Library of Congress, the House, the Senate and the Government Publishing Office.
Congress.gov was in beta in 2012, and ...
Overview of the Evidence Act from the Data Foundation's Data Coalition
* GSA Technology Transformation Services
Draft 2019-2020 Federal Data Strategy Action Plan
* Data Coalition
OPEN Government Data Act
(assorted info from advocacy group supporting machine-readable data)
* Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President, OMB Mem. No. M-19-23, ''Phase 1 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning Guidance'' (2019), https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf
* Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President, OMB Mem. No M-13-13, ''Open Data Policy---Managing Information as an Asset'' (2013), https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf
Acts of the 115th United States Congress
Data laws of the Americas
Open government in the United States
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