July 01, 2004

Is There a Regulatory Law Geek in the House?

by PG

Pursuant to an idea I had yesterday, I am wondering about the extent to which the government may impose information collection requirements on non-governmental entities. Specifically, I am wondering if federal or state law could require abortion providers to have women fill out an anonymous (thus fulfilling HIPAA privacy) questionnaire regarding their decision-making process for having an abortion.

Virginia and other states already have 24-hour waiting periods that force women who seek abortions to visit providers once to receive information about negative consequences of and alternatives to abortion, then return at least a day later to have the procedure. A questionnaire seems far less burdensome as a practical matter, but it may entail an invasion of patients' privacy or a trespass into the clinics' speech autonomy.

Anyone know the rules governing this sort of thing?

July 1, 2004 06:49 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Well, either there are no admin law geeks in the house, or there are but they shy away from ridicule. But considering that De Novo is a shameless law geek shelter, I'm guessing the first is correct.

Posted by: Nick Morgan at July 2, 2004 08:32 PM

While I am not an admin law geek, I wonder how the IRS will monitor taxpayers' bases for assets when the Estate Tax is fully repealed and "stepped up basis" no longer applies (except to a limited extent). 1099s and other informational returns are required to be filed with IRS for certain sales and exchanges. But generally the IRS lacks basis information, even now. As greatly appreciated assets pass from generation to generation with carryover bases, how will the IRS monitor taxpayers' honesty in reporting their humongus gains? While the burden is upon the taxpayer to prove tax basis, the IRS is not adequately funded to audit enough returns to put fear in the hearts of taxpayers who may continue to play, aggressively, the IRS audit lottery.

By the way, I am a geek about people paying their fair share of taxes to support our democracy. What was it a famous Supreme Court Justice said about taxes?

Posted by: Shag from Brookline at July 3, 2004 10:05 AM
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