Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators-Proposal To Change Timing of Public Comments by Employees of the Executive Branch, 58316-58318 [2023-18313]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 164 / Friday, August 25, 2023 / Notices
current approval is scheduled to expire
on April 30, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Furnishing Documents to the
Secretary of Labor on Request Under
Employee Retirement Income Security
Act Section 104(a)(6).
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0112.
Affected Public: Not-for-profit
institutions, Businesses or other forprofits.
Respondents: 893.
Responses: 893.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 41.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $721.
Description: Prior to the enactment of
the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (Pub. L.
105–34, August 5, 1997) (TRA ‘97),
section 104(a) of the Employee
Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)
required administrators of employee
benefit plans automatically to file the
plan’s summary plan description (SPD)
and any summaries of material
modification (SMMs) with the Secretary
of the Department of Labor (the
Department). TRA ‘97 eliminated the
requirement that these documents be
filed automatically with the
Department, but added ERISA section
104(a)(6), requiring a plan administrator
to furnish documents related to an
employee benefit plan to the
Department upon request. The
requirement that administrators furnish
the Department requested plan
documents other than SPDs and SMMs
was part of section 104(a) prior to
enactment of TRA ’97; that requirement
was moved by TRA ’97 to section
104(a)(6) and consolidated with the new
furnishing requirement pertaining to
SPDs and SMMs.
Pursuant to the regulation, the
Department requests documents under
section 104(a)(6) when a participant or
beneficiary has previously requested the
documents directly from the plan
administrator and the administrator has
failed or refused to provide them. The
Department therefore uses the requested
information to respond to participants’
requests to the Department for
documents that the participants were
unable to obtain from their plan
administrators.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0112. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on June 30, 2024.
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II. Focus of Comments
The Department is particularly
interested in comments that:
• Evaluate whether the collections of
information are necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
• Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the collections of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
• Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
• Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., by permitting electronic
submissions of responses.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the ICR for OMB approval
of the information collection; they will
also become a matter of public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 18th day of
August 2023.
Lisa M. Gomez,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits
Security Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor.
[FR Doc. 2023–18276 Filed 8–24–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3:
Compilation, Release, and Evaluation
of Principal Federal Economic
Indicators—Proposal To Change
Timing of Public Comments by
Employees of the Executive Branch
Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Executive
Office of the President.
ACTION: Notice of solicitation of
comments.
AGENCY:
The Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) issues a request for
public comments on a proposal to
modify one provision within Statistical
Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation,
Release, and Evaluation of Principal
Federal Economic Indicators (Directive
No. 3). The procedures in Directive No.
3, published in 1985, were designed to
ensure equitable, policy-neutral, and
timely release and dissemination of
Principal Federal Economic Indicators
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
(PFEIs). The goals of Directive No. 3
remain sound; this Notice proposes
updates to procedures consistent with
these goals to reflect advances in
communication technologies and
methods. In particular, OMB proposes
to modify the provision, ‘‘employees of
the Executive Branch shall not comment
publicly on the data until at least one
hour after the official release time,’’ by
replacing ‘‘one hour’’ with ‘‘thirty
minutes.’’ This proposed change would
reduce the delay after official release
time before commentary from
employees of the Executive Branch.
Additional discussion of the request for
public comment may be found in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below.
DATES: To ensure consideration of
comments on this notice, they must be
received no later than October 24, 2023.
Because of delays in the receipt of
regular mail related to security
screening, respondents are encouraged
to send comments electronically (see
ADDRESSES, below).
ADDRESSES: Submit comments through
www.regulations.gov—a Federal EGovernment website that allows the
public to find, review, and submit
comments on documents that agencies
have published in the Federal Register
and that are open for comment. Enter
‘‘OMB–2023–0016’’ (in quotes) in the
Comment or Submission search box,
click Go, and follow the instructions for
submitting comments. Comments
received by the date specified above
will be included as part of the official
record.
Privacy Notice: Information submitted
in response to this RFI will be
maintained in the OMB Public Input
System of Records, OMB/INPUT/01 88
FR 20913. OMB generally makes
comments received from members of the
public available for public viewing on
the Federal Rulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. As such,
commenters should not include
information that they do not wish to
make publicly available, including
information of a confidential nature,
such as sensitive personal information
or proprietary information. Please note
that if you submit your email address,
it will be automatically captured and
included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket; however,
www.regulations.gov does include the
option of commenting anonymously.
For more detail about how OMB may
maintain and disclose submitted
information, please review the System
of Records Notice at 88 FR 20913.
Electronic Availability: This notice is
available on the internet on the OMB
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 164 / Friday, August 25, 2023 / Notices
58317
producing the PFEI data, including the
data releases. These platforms can also
offer direct attribution of the data to the
agencies that produce it; these agencies
are required to meet data quality
standards and are trusted to implement
those requirements. These advances in
the timing and attribution of
dissemination can contribute to the
ability of society to fully digest the data
releases sooner than when such
dissemination methods were not
available.
In addition, society generally
communicates and interacts differently
now than in 1985. In particular, various
platforms exist now that allow society to
interact seconds after a new data release
comes out. This means that for these
PFEI data releases, non-governmental
actors are engaging in dialogue almost
immediately following the official
release time and can be offering
perspectives on the meaning of the data.
Under the current Directive No. 3, this
dialogue is missing any Executive
Branch interpretation until at least one
hour after the data’s official release
time. Under this proposal to reduce the
delay to thirty minutes, Executive
Branch officials could enter the dialogue
thirty minutes earlier. OMB is
considering the proposed change
because we believe it is likely to lead to
a more robust discussion without
compromising the underlying principles
of Directive No. 3, including the benefits
of having some time delay.
OMB is not considering any other
alternatives in this proposal; this means
that OMB is neither considering
removing the delay entirely, nor is it
considering any other changes to any
other policies in Directive No. 3. OMB
proposes changing the italicized text in
the excerpt from Directive No. 3 below,
which is part of the last paragraph of
Section 5 of Directive No. 3 3:
website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/
omb/. Federal Register notices are also
available electronically at https://
www.federalregister.gov/.
Instructions: Response to this Notice
is voluntary. Respondents may provide
input on any aspects of this solicitation.
OMB will not respond to individual
submissions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
information about this request for
comments, contact Kerrie Leslie, Office
of Management and Budget, New
Executive Office Building, Washington,
DC 20503, telephone (202) 395–1093,
email Statistical_Directives@
omb.eop.gov with the subject ‘‘More
Info: Directive No. 3.’’
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) issues a
request for comments on a proposal to
change one provision within Statistical
Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation,
Release, and Evaluation of Principal
Federal Economic Indicators (50 FR
38932, Sep. 25, 1985) (Directive No. 3),
issued under the Budget and
Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (31
U.S.C. 1104(d)) and the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3504(e)) (the PRA).1 The stated purposes
of Directive No. 3 are to preserve the
time value of the economic indicators,
strike a balance between timeliness and
accuracy, provide for periodic
evaluation of each indicator, prevent
early access to information that may
affect financial and commodity markets,
and preserve the distinction between
the policy-neutral release of data by
statistical agencies and their
interpretation by policy officials.
Directive No. 3 remains a robust,
comprehensive source of guidance for
Federal statistical agencies and
recognized statistical units producing
Principal Federal Economic Indicators
(PFEIs). The government and private
sector widely watch and heavily rely
upon these statistical series as
indicators of the current condition and
direction of the economy.
The procedures in Directive No. 3,
published in 1985, were designed to
ensure equitable, policy-neutral, and
timely release and dissemination of
Principal Federal Economic Indicators
(‘‘PFEIs’’). The goals of Directive No. 3
remain sound, and this Notice does not
seek to change them. Specifically, in
furtherance of these goals, we are
proposing to retain the requirement that
some period of time needs to elapse
between the policy-neutral release of the
data and the public interpretation of
such data by policy officials in the
Executive Branch. More background and
history on the policies of Directive No.
3 can be found in the April 2019
Federal Register Notice (84 FR 14682,
Apr. 11, 2019) (April 2019 FRN),
available at www.federalregister.gov/
documents/2019/04/11/2019-07172/
statistical-policy-directive-no-3compilation-release-and-evaluation-ofprincipal-federal-economic.
Previous proposal. In April 2019,
OMB published in the Federal Register
a request for comments on a proposal to
reduce the duration of the prohibition of
commentary by employees of the
Executive Branch following the PFEI
release from one hour to something
shorter, including the consideration of
the option of having no delay at all (84
FR 14682, Apr. 11, 2019). OMB received
sixteen in-scope comments in response
to that Notice.2 All in-scope
commenters strongly supported either a
retention of the one-hour delay, or a
delay of some duration, after official
release time before employees of the
Executive Branch could comment on the
PFEI releases, with no commenters in
support of removing the delay entirely.
Updated proposal. OMB agrees with
the previous comments on this issue
submitted in 2019, and understands that
maintaining some delay as part of
Directive No. 3 continues to be
important to maintain the bright line
between the release of data and any
commentary on such data by Executive
Branch officials. OMB is seeking public
comment on the updated proposal that
would modify the delay from one hour
to thirty minutes. OMB is considering
this updated proposal because, while
the delay is important to ensuring a
clear bright line between the data
release and the Executive Branch’s
policy interpretation, OMB also
understands that since 1985 there have
been many changes in the way we
communicate within and across society,
as well as in how the relevant agencies
disseminate information. For example,
in addition to more traditional means of
dissemination (e.g., newspaper or
radio), agencies now disseminate and
society interacts with data releases
through the internet, including through
websites, social media platforms, and
other applications. These newer
dissemination platforms in particular
offer nearly instantaneous access to any
information supplied by the agencies
5. Release Procedure. * * * Except for the
authorized distribution described in this
section, agencies shall ensure that no
information or data estimates are released
before the official release time.
The agency will provide prerelease
information to the President, through the
Chairman of the Council of Economic
Advisers, as soon as it is available. The
agency may grant others prerelease access
only under the following conditions:
(a) The agency head must establish
whatever security arrangements are necessary
and impose whatever conditions on the
granting of access are necessary to ensure
that there is no unauthorized dissemination
or use.
1 The full text of Directive No. 3 is available at
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_
drupal_files/omb/assets/OMB/inforeg/statpolicy/
dir_3_fr_09251985.pdf.
2 Public comments received in response to the
April 2019 FRN are available at
www.regulations.gov/document/OMB-2019-00010001/comment.
3 The full text of Directive No. 3 is available at
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_
drupal_files/omb/assets/OMB/inforeg/statpolicy/
dir_3_fr_09251985.pdf.
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 164 / Friday, August 25, 2023 / Notices
(b) The agency head shall ensure that any
person granted access has been fully
informed of and agreed to these conditions.
(c) Any prerelease of information under an
embargo shall not precede the official release
time by more than 30 minutes.
(d) In all cases, prerelease access shall
precede the official release time only to the
extent necessary for an orderly review of the
data.
All employees of the Executive Branch
who receive prerelease distribution of
information and data estimates as authorized
above are responsible for assuring that there
is no release prior to the official release time.
Except for members of the staff of the agency
issuing the principal economic indicator who
have been designated by the agency head to
provide technical explanations of the data,
employees of the Executive Branch shall not
comment publicly on the data until at least
one hour after the official release time.
Under OMB’s proposal, the italicized
text would be changed to ‘‘at least thirty
minutes after the official release time.’’
Any changes to the text from Section
5 would neither affect nor replace any
of the other standards and guidelines
articulated in Directive No. 3.
Request for comments. OMB seeks
comments from all interested parties,
including data users, businesses,
organizations, and the media.
Specifically, OMB seeks comments from
the public about the proposal to change
the delay from one hour to thirty
minutes, including whether such a
change could still meet the goals of
Directive No. 3 to ensure equitable,
policy-neutral, and timely release and
dissemination of PFEIs. OMB also seeks
input on whether to maintain the onehour delay.
Richard L. Revesz,
Administrator, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs.
BILLING CODE 3110–01–P
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND
SPACE ADMINISTRATION
[NOTICE: 23–090]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposals, Submissions,
and Approvals
Comments are due by September
25, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for this information
collection should be sent within 30 days
of publication of this notice to
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information
collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under
30-day Review—Open for Public
Comments’’ or by using the search
function.
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Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument(s) and instructions should
be directed to Bill Edwards-Bodmer,
NASA Clearance Officer, NASA
Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, JF0000,
Washington, DC 20546, 757–864–7998,
or b.edwards-bodmer@nasa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This information collection enabled
NASA to pre-test methods to collect
information from individuals to
determine community response to the
new, quieter sonic booms, prior to the
start of flight testing the X-plane. No
public exposure to any form of sonic
boom occurred during the pre-testing
phase.
The pre-test was conducted by
telephone interview. NASA wanted to
evaluate telephone surveys to assess
prompt public response associated with
experiencing low amplitude sonic
booms over multiple, geographically
dispersed communities. Responses were
voluntary.
The new X-plane is designed to
produce low amplitude sonic booms.
Ultimately, flight testing of the X-plane
is intended to (1) demonstrate and
validate the technology necessary for
civil supersonic flights that create low
amplitude sonic booms, and (2) assess
community response to the new,
quieter, sonic booms.
II. Methods of Collection
Telephone.
III. Data
[FR Doc. 2023–18313 Filed 8–23–23; 11:15 am]
DATES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Title: Pilot Testing of Telephone
Interviewing Approaches to Assess
Community Response to New, Quieter
Boom Experiences.
OMB Number: 2700–0166.
Type of Review: Reinstatement.
Affected Public: Individuals.
Estimated Annual Number of
Activities: 5,000.
Estimated Number of Respondents
per Activity: 1.
Annual Responses: 5,000.
Estimated Time per Response: 3
minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 250.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (1) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of NASA, including
whether the information collected has
practical utility; (2) the accuracy of
NASA’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
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proposed collection of information; (3)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (4) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including automated
collection techniques or the use of other
forms of information technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection.
They will also become a matter of
public record.
William Edwards-Bodmer,
NASA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023–18269 Filed 8–24–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7510–13–P
NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE
ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES
National Endowment for the Arts
60-Day Notice for the ‘‘Generic
Clearance for the Collection of
Qualitative Feedback on Agency
Service Delivery’’
AGENCY:
National Endowment for the
Arts.
Notice of proposed collection;
comment request.
ACTION:
The National Endowment for
the Arts (NEA), as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, conducts a
preclearance consultation program to
provide the general public and Federal
agencies with an opportunity to
comment on proposed and/or
continuing collections of information in
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. This program
helps to ensure that requested data can
be provided in the desired format,
reporting burden (time and financial
resources) is minimized, collection
instruments are clearly understood, and
the impact of collection requirements on
respondents can be properly assessed.
Currently, the NEA is soliciting
comments concerning the proposed
information collection for Generic
Clearance for the Collection of
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service
Delivery. A copy of the current
information collection request can be
obtained by contacting the office listed
below in the address section of this
notice.
SUMMARY:
Written comments must be
submitted to the office listed in the
address section below within 60 days
from the date of this publication in the
Federal Register.
DATES:
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 164 (Friday, August 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58316-58318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18313]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators--Proposal To Change
Timing of Public Comments by Employees of the Executive Branch
AGENCY: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President.
ACTION: Notice of solicitation of comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issues a request for
public comments on a proposal to modify one provision within
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators (Directive No. 3).
The procedures in Directive No. 3, published in 1985, were designed to
ensure equitable, policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination
of Principal Federal Economic Indicators (PFEIs). The goals of
Directive No. 3 remain sound; this Notice proposes updates to
procedures consistent with these goals to reflect advances in
communication technologies and methods. In particular, OMB proposes to
modify the provision, ``employees of the Executive Branch shall not
comment publicly on the data until at least one hour after the official
release time,'' by replacing ``one hour'' with ``thirty minutes.'' This
proposed change would reduce the delay after official release time
before commentary from employees of the Executive Branch. Additional
discussion of the request for public comment may be found in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.
DATES: To ensure consideration of comments on this notice, they must be
received no later than October 24, 2023. Because of delays in the
receipt of regular mail related to security screening, respondents are
encouraged to send comments electronically (see ADDRESSES, below).
ADDRESSES: Submit comments through www.regulations.gov--a Federal E-
Government website that allows the public to find, review, and submit
comments on documents that agencies have published in the Federal
Register and that are open for comment. Enter ``OMB-2023-0016'' (in
quotes) in the Comment or Submission search box, click Go, and follow
the instructions for submitting comments. Comments received by the date
specified above will be included as part of the official record.
Privacy Notice: Information submitted in response to this RFI will
be maintained in the OMB Public Input System of Records, OMB/INPUT/01
88 FR 20913. OMB generally makes comments received from members of the
public available for public viewing on the Federal Rulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. As such, commenters should not include information
that they do not wish to make publicly available, including information
of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or
proprietary information. Please note that if you submit your email
address, it will be automatically captured and included as part of the
comment that is placed in the public docket; however,
www.regulations.gov does include the option of commenting anonymously.
For more detail about how OMB may maintain and disclose submitted
information, please review the System of Records Notice at 88 FR 20913.
Electronic Availability: This notice is available on the internet
on the OMB
[[Page 58317]]
website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/. Federal Register notices
are also available electronically at https://www.federalregister.gov/.
Instructions: Response to this Notice is voluntary. Respondents may
provide input on any aspects of this solicitation. OMB will not respond
to individual submissions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this request for
comments, contact Kerrie Leslie, Office of Management and Budget, New
Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, telephone (202) 395-
1093, email [email protected] with the subject ``More
Info: Directive No. 3.''
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issues a
request for comments on a proposal to change one provision within
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators (50 FR 38932, Sep.
25, 1985) (Directive No. 3), issued under the Budget and Accounting
Procedures Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 1104(d)) and the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3504(e)) (the PRA).\1\ The stated purposes of
Directive No. 3 are to preserve the time value of the economic
indicators, strike a balance between timeliness and accuracy, provide
for periodic evaluation of each indicator, prevent early access to
information that may affect financial and commodity markets, and
preserve the distinction between the policy-neutral release of data by
statistical agencies and their interpretation by policy officials.
Directive No. 3 remains a robust, comprehensive source of guidance for
Federal statistical agencies and recognized statistical units producing
Principal Federal Economic Indicators (PFEIs). The government and
private sector widely watch and heavily rely upon these statistical
series as indicators of the current condition and direction of the
economy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The full text of Directive No. 3 is available at
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/assets/OMB/inforeg/statpolicy/dir_3_fr_09251985.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The procedures in Directive No. 3, published in 1985, were designed
to ensure equitable, policy-neutral, and timely release and
dissemination of Principal Federal Economic Indicators (``PFEIs''). The
goals of Directive No. 3 remain sound, and this Notice does not seek to
change them. Specifically, in furtherance of these goals, we are
proposing to retain the requirement that some period of time needs to
elapse between the policy-neutral release of the data and the public
interpretation of such data by policy officials in the Executive
Branch. More background and history on the policies of Directive No. 3
can be found in the April 2019 Federal Register Notice (84 FR 14682,
Apr. 11, 2019) (April 2019 FRN), available at www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/04/11/2019-07172/statistical-policy-directive-no-3-compilation-release-and-evaluation-of-principal-federal-economic.
Previous proposal. In April 2019, OMB published in the Federal
Register a request for comments on a proposal to reduce the duration of
the prohibition of commentary by employees of the Executive Branch
following the PFEI release from one hour to something shorter,
including the consideration of the option of having no delay at all (84
FR 14682, Apr. 11, 2019). OMB received sixteen in-scope comments in
response to that Notice.\2\ All in-scope commenters strongly supported
either a retention of the one-hour delay, or a delay of some duration,
after official release time before employees of the Executive Branch
could comment on the PFEI releases, with no commenters in support of
removing the delay entirely.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Public comments received in response to the April 2019 FRN
are available at www.regulations.gov/document/OMB-2019-0001-0001/comment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated proposal. OMB agrees with the previous comments on this
issue submitted in 2019, and understands that maintaining some delay as
part of Directive No. 3 continues to be important to maintain the
bright line between the release of data and any commentary on such data
by Executive Branch officials. OMB is seeking public comment on the
updated proposal that would modify the delay from one hour to thirty
minutes. OMB is considering this updated proposal because, while the
delay is important to ensuring a clear bright line between the data
release and the Executive Branch's policy interpretation, OMB also
understands that since 1985 there have been many changes in the way we
communicate within and across society, as well as in how the relevant
agencies disseminate information. For example, in addition to more
traditional means of dissemination (e.g., newspaper or radio), agencies
now disseminate and society interacts with data releases through the
internet, including through websites, social media platforms, and other
applications. These newer dissemination platforms in particular offer
nearly instantaneous access to any information supplied by the agencies
producing the PFEI data, including the data releases. These platforms
can also offer direct attribution of the data to the agencies that
produce it; these agencies are required to meet data quality standards
and are trusted to implement those requirements. These advances in the
timing and attribution of dissemination can contribute to the ability
of society to fully digest the data releases sooner than when such
dissemination methods were not available.
In addition, society generally communicates and interacts
differently now than in 1985. In particular, various platforms exist
now that allow society to interact seconds after a new data release
comes out. This means that for these PFEI data releases, non-
governmental actors are engaging in dialogue almost immediately
following the official release time and can be offering perspectives on
the meaning of the data. Under the current Directive No. 3, this
dialogue is missing any Executive Branch interpretation until at least
one hour after the data's official release time. Under this proposal to
reduce the delay to thirty minutes, Executive Branch officials could
enter the dialogue thirty minutes earlier. OMB is considering the
proposed change because we believe it is likely to lead to a more
robust discussion without compromising the underlying principles of
Directive No. 3, including the benefits of having some time delay.
OMB is not considering any other alternatives in this proposal;
this means that OMB is neither considering removing the delay entirely,
nor is it considering any other changes to any other policies in
Directive No. 3. OMB proposes changing the italicized text in the
excerpt from Directive No. 3 below, which is part of the last paragraph
of Section 5 of Directive No. 3 \3\:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ The full text of Directive No. 3 is available at
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/assets/OMB/inforeg/statpolicy/dir_3_fr_09251985.pdf.
5. Release Procedure. * * * Except for the authorized
distribution described in this section, agencies shall ensure that
no information or data estimates are released before the official
release time.
The agency will provide prerelease information to the President,
through the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, as soon as
it is available. The agency may grant others prerelease access only
under the following conditions:
(a) The agency head must establish whatever security
arrangements are necessary and impose whatever conditions on the
granting of access are necessary to ensure that there is no
unauthorized dissemination or use.
[[Page 58318]]
(b) The agency head shall ensure that any person granted access
has been fully informed of and agreed to these conditions.
(c) Any prerelease of information under an embargo shall not
precede the official release time by more than 30 minutes.
(d) In all cases, prerelease access shall precede the official
release time only to the extent necessary for an orderly review of
the data.
All employees of the Executive Branch who receive prerelease
distribution of information and data estimates as authorized above
are responsible for assuring that there is no release prior to the
official release time. Except for members of the staff of the agency
issuing the principal economic indicator who have been designated by
the agency head to provide technical explanations of the data,
employees of the Executive Branch shall not comment publicly on the
data until at least one hour after the official release time.
Under OMB's proposal, the italicized text would be changed to ``at
least thirty minutes after the official release time.''
Any changes to the text from Section 5 would neither affect nor
replace any of the other standards and guidelines articulated in
Directive No. 3.
Request for comments. OMB seeks comments from all interested
parties, including data users, businesses, organizations, and the
media. Specifically, OMB seeks comments from the public about the
proposal to change the delay from one hour to thirty minutes, including
whether such a change could still meet the goals of Directive No. 3 to
ensure equitable, policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination
of PFEIs. OMB also seeks input on whether to maintain the one-hour
delay.
Richard L. Revesz,
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2023-18313 Filed 8-23-23; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-P
