Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; The American Community Survey, 52189-52190 [2018-22443]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 200 (Tuesday, October 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52189-52190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22443]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

 Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; The American 
Community Survey

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort 
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public 
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on 
proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted on 
or before December 17, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please direct all written comments to Jennifer Jessup, 
Departmental Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 
6616, 14th and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 
internet at [email protected]). You may also submit comments, identified 
by Docket number USBC-2018-0014 to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: 
https://www.regulations.gov. All comments received are part of the 
public record. No comments will be posted to https://www.regulations.gov 
for public viewing until after the comment period has closed. Comments 
will generally be posted without change. All Personally Identifiable 
Information (for example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by 
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential 
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. 
You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, 
Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions 
should be directed to Robin A. Pennington, Rm. 2H465, U.S. Census 
Bureau, Decennial Census Management Division, Washington, DC 20233 or 
via email to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    Since its founding, the U.S. Census Bureau has balanced the demands 
of a growing country for information about its people and economy, with 
concerns for respondents' privacy and the time and effort it takes 
respondents to answer questions. Beginning with the 1810 Census, 
Congress added questions to support a range of public concerns and 
uses, and over the course of a century, federal agencies requested to 
add questions about agriculture, industry, and commerce, as well as 
individuals' occupation, ancestry, marital status, disabilities, place 
of birth and other topics. In 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau introduced 
the long-form census in order to ask more detailed questions to only a 
sample of the public.
    In the early 1990s, the demand for current, nationally consistent 
data from a wide variety of users led federal government policymakers 
to consider the feasibility of collecting social, economic, and housing 
data continuously throughout the decade. The benefits of providing 
current data, along with the anticipated decennial census benefits in 
cost savings, planning, improved census coverage, and more efficient 
operations, led the U.S. Census Bureau to plan the implementation of 
the continuous measurement survey, later called the American Community 
Survey (ACS). After years of testing the ACS, which is the current 
embodiment of the long form of the decennial census, the survey 
launched in 2005. Each year a sample of approximately 3.5 million 
households and about 200,000 persons living in group quarters in the 
mainland United States and Puerto Rico are selected to participate in 
the ACS.
    In 2020, the ACS will change the race and ethnicity questions to 
match the 2020 Census. This change will make the ACS consistent with 
2020 Census data on this topic. The ACS will also change the 
instruction for reporting babies' ages to match the 2020 Census. 
Ongoing research suggests the instructions for reporting infants 
creates challenges for some respondents. Cognitive testing demonstrated 
the wording for the age instruction is unclear and confusing to 
respondents. Details about all of the questions planned for the 2020 
Census and the American Community Survey are available at https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2018/dec/planned-questions-2020-acs.html.
    The ACS self-response rates in 2010, a decennial census year, were 
higher than usual in the first few months of the year, but were lower 
than usual in the spring and summer months, when the 2010 decennial 
census was underway. The increased self-response rates early in the 
year were attributed to decennial census communications while the 
decreased rates later in the year were attributed to respondent 
confusion, as respondents had already filled out their decennial census 
form and did not understand that the ACS was a separate data 
collection. Prior research suggests that during a decennial census 
year, ACS mail materials such as envelopes and letters should be 
revised to distinguish the ACS from the Census. For the 2020 data 
collection year, we are considering modifying the mail package 
contents, Field Representative flyers, scripts for the Interactive 
Voice Recognition system, frequently asked questions, and the ACS 
website to better communicate to respondents that the ACS is a separate 
data collection from the 2020 Census and that respondents selected for 
the ACS should complete both the ACS and the 2020 Census.

[[Page 52190]]

II. Method of Collection

    To encourage self-response in the ACS, the Census Bureau sends up 
to five mailings to an address selected to be in the sample. The first 
mailing, sent to all mailable addresses in the sample, includes an 
invitation to participate in the ACS online and states that a paper 
questionnaire will be sent in a few weeks to those unable to respond 
online. Subsequent mailings serve as a reminder to respond to the 
survey, with a paper questionnaire included in the third mailing for 
those households that prefer to respond by mailing back the 
questionnaire. The Census Bureau may ask those who begin filling out 
the survey online to provide an email address, which would be used to 
send an email reminder to households that did not complete the online 
form. The reminder asks them to log back in to finish responding to the 
survey.
    Some addresses are deemed unmailable because the address is 
incomplete or directs mail only to a post office box. The Census Bureau 
currently collects data for these housing units using Computer-Assisted 
Personal Interviewing. In July 2019, the ACS plans to make the online 
survey available to all housing units in the 50 states and the District 
of Columbia, including those with unmailable addresses. Residents in 
housing units with unmailable addresses will still be contacted by 
Census Bureau Field Representatives, but they will now be given the 
option to complete the survey online or by personal interview.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-0810.
    Form Number(s): ACS-1, ACS-1(SP), ACS-1(PR), ACS-1(PR)SP, ACS-
1(GQ), ACS-1(PR)(GQ), GQFQ, ACS CAPI (HU), ACS RI (HU), AGQ QI, and AGQ 
RI.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Federal and legislative agencies, individuals, 
households, and businesses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 40 minutes for the average household 
questionnaire; 15 minutes for a GQ facility questionnaire; 25 minutes 
for a GQ person questionnaire; 10 minutes for a household reinterview; 
10 minutes for a GQ-level reinterview.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: The Census Bureau plans to 
contact the following number of respondents each year: 3,540,000 
households; 200,000 persons in group quarters; 20,000 contacts in group 
quarters; 43,000 households for reinterview; and 1,500 group quarters 
contacts for reinterview. The estimate is an annual average of 
2,455,868 burden hours.

                                                Table 1--Annual ACS Respondent and Burden Hour Estimates
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                                                                                                         Estimated
                                                                                                        minutes per
                                       Forms or instrument used       Annual estimated number of       respondent by
      Data collection operation           in  data collection                respondents                   data         Annual estimated  burden hours
                                                                                                        collection
                                                                                                         operation
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I. ACS Household Questionnaire--Paper  ACS-1, ACS 1(SP), ACS-    3,540,000..........................              40  2,360,000.
 Mailout/Mailback.                      1PR, ACS-1PR(SP).
ACS Household CAPI--Personal Visit     CAPI HU.................  [698,000 included in I.]...........            [40]  [466,000 included in I.].
 Non-response Follow-up.
ACS Household internet...............  Internet HU.............  [712,000 included in I.]...........            [40]  [475,000 included in I.].
II. ACS GQ Facility Questionnaire      CAPI GQFQ...............  20,000.............................              15  5,000.
 CAPI--Telephone and Personal Visit.
III. ACS GQ CAPI Personal Interview    CAPI, ACS-1(GQ),........  200,000............................              25  83,333.
 or Telephone, and--Paper Self-        ACS-1(GQ)(PR)...........
 response.
IV. ACS Household Reinterview--CATI/   ACS HU-RI...............  43,200.............................              10  7,200.
 CAPI.
V. ACS GQ GQ-level Reinterview--CATI/  ACS GQ-RI...............  2,000..............................              10  335.
 CAPI.
                                                                ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals...........................  ........................  3,805,200..........................             N/A  2,455,868.
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    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0 (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 141 and 193.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-22443 Filed 10-15-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P