Wishful Thinking: GAO Report Shows the Failure of “Dig Once” Proceduralism

Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on states’ implementation of a “dig once” law that Congress enacted in 2018. Given our recent paper analyzing dig once requirements, we were thrilled to dig in (pun very much intended). While GAO doesn’t say it so explicitly, our takeaway from GAO’s report is clear and unsurprising: The 2018 “dig once” law has been a complete policy failure. As we argued in our report, Congress needs to adopt strong requirements for the desired policy outcomes of dig once policies.