Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Every rule makes sense alone
Most of the constraints on government exist to protect taxpayers, and any single one looks sensible by itself. The CHIPS office ran into several. The Paperwork Reduction Act requires a process with OMB and a public posting with comments every time the government wants to solicit information from the public, including from major semiconductor companies. The office spent hundreds of hours on it. The Davis-Bacon Act, which requires prevailing wage for construction workers, caused meaningful challenges in the nitty-gritty of implementation.
NEPA was very difficult, and the office ended up with a congressional exemption from it. Beyond NEPA's environmental analysis sit the underlying substantive permits under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, which can introduce hurdles depending on the project. Some of those feel like they advance meaningful goals, and others are hard to see as part of a sensible overall permitting policy.
Why does the Davis-Bacon Act exist?
Congress passed the Davis-Bacon Act in 1931, during the Depression. Contractors had been bringing in outside workers at low wages to underbid local firms on federal building projects. The law requires contractors on federally funded construction to pay the prevailing local wage, as set by the Department of Labor. It is named for Senator James Davis and Representative Robert Bacon.
How does NEPA reach a subsidy?
The National Environmental Policy Act, signed on January 1, 1970, requires federal agencies to study the environmental effects of major actions before they act. Funding a private project can count as a federal action. That brings the study requirement to a factory that would otherwise face only state and local review. The study can be an environmental assessment or a longer environmental impact statement.
Why does the Paperwork Reduction Act exist?
Congress passed it in 1980 to limit the burden of federal information requests. It created a review role for the Office of Management and Budget. Agencies must get OMB approval, after public notice and comment, before asking the same questions of ten or more people. The threshold in the law is ten or more respondents.