Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; The American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS), 20630-20632 [2024-06256]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 58 (Monday, March 25, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20630-20632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06256]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; The American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community 
Survey (PRCS)

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on October 20, 2023, during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: The American Community Survey and the Puerto Rico Community 
Survey.
    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), ACS Housing Unit internet questionnaire (no form 
number), ACS nonresponse follow up CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal 
Interview) electronic instrument (no form number), ACS Failed Edit 
Follow up CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) electronic 
instrument (no form number), ACS Telephone Questionnaire Assistance 
CATI electronic instrument (no form number), ACS Group Quarters 
internet listing instrument (no form number), ACS Group Quarters 
Facility Questionnaire CAPI electronic instrument (no form number), ACS 
Group Quarters internet electronic instrument (no form number), ACS 
Group Quarters Resident CAPI electronic instrument (no form number), 
and ACS Reinterview CATI/CAPI electronic instrument (no form number).
    Type of Request: Regular submission. Request for a Revision of a 
Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 3,576,000 for household respondents; 20,100 
for facility contacts in group quarters; 170,900 people in group 
quarters; 22,900 households for reinterview; and 1,400 group quarters 
facility contacts for reinterview. The total estimated number of 
respondents is 3,791,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 40 minutes for the average household 
questionnaire; 15 minutes for a group quarters facility contact 
questionnaire; 25 minutes for a group quarters person questionnaire; 10 
minutes for a household reinterview; 10 minutes for a group quarters 
facility contact reinterview.
    Burden Hours: 2,384,000 for household respondents; 5,025 for 
contacts in group quarters; 71,208 for group quarters residents; 3,817 
households for reinterview; and 233 group quarters contacts for 
reinterview. The estimate is an annual average of 2,464,283 burden 
hours.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for revisions to the American 
Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is one of the Department of Commerce's 
most valuable data products, used extensively by businesses, 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), local governments, and many 
federal agencies. In conducting this survey, the Census Bureau's top 
priority is respecting the time and privacy of the people providing 
information while preserving its value to the public.
    In June 2018, the Census Bureau solicited proposals for new or 
revised ACS content from over 25 federal agencies. For new questions, 
the proposals explained why these data were needed and why other data 
sources that provide similar information were not sufficient. Proposals 
for new content were reviewed to ensure that the requests met a 
statutory or regulatory need for data at small geographic levels or for 
small populations.
    The Census Bureau, in consultation with the OMB and the Interagency 
Council on Statistical Policy Subcommittee on the ACS, determined which 
proposals moved forward. Approved proposals for new content or changes 
to current content were tested via the ACS content change process. This 
process included cognitive testing and field testing of several topics, 
including household roster, educational attainment, health insurance 
coverage, disability, and labor force questions.

[[Page 20631]]

The testing also included evaluating the addition of three new topics 
on electric vehicles, sewage disposal, and solar panels.
    A Federal Register notice (FRN) posted on February 9, 2021, 
solicited public comments on the initial proposals for testing changes 
and additions to the ACS content. Another FRN was posted on March 21, 
2022, which contained more details on the proposed changes for each 
topic and the operational details of the 2022 ACS Content Test. The 
most recent FRN, posted on October 20, 2023, invited the public to 
comment on the proposed changes to the 2025 ACS and PRCS after 
analyzing the result of the 2022 Content Test. The public provided 
comments through December 19, 2023. The Census Bureau received over 
12,000 comments on the most recent 60-day FRN for the 2025 ACS content 
changes. Over 98 percent of the comments received were about the 
changes to the disability questions. One point three percent were on 
the other topics with a proposed change or the topic was not specified 
in the comment. An additional 0.7 percent were on other topics or 
proposed new questions not included in the 2022 ACS Content Test, 
general comments about the ACS, recommendations about data collection 
methods, or were not applicable to the 60-day FRN.
    The majority of commenters expressed concerns about the changes 
proposed to the disability questions and asked the Census Bureau not to 
proceed with the changes. Most commenters also expressed 
dissatisfaction with not having been included in the process. They 
indicated that the Census Bureau should conduct more comprehensive 
public engagement before proposing modifications to the disability 
questions. Some of these comments also suggested that a taskforce be 
formed. Many letters incorporated the motto and sentiment of, ``Nothing 
About Us Without Us.'' In deference to the large number (12,188) of 
comments that expressed concerns about the proposed change to the 
disability questions, the Census Bureau plans to retain the current ACS 
disability questions for the 2025 ACS. Refer to the Census Bureau 
Director's Blog on the Next Steps on the ACS Disability Questions.
    The vast majority of comments on the other topics acknowledged the 
value of the data from the new and revised questions. The Census Bureau 
will proceed with the proposal of changes on all other topics for the 
2025 ACS.
    The Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) 
stand behind the statistical validity of the 2022 ACS Content Test 
results and the practical utility of the proposed disability change. 
However, we recognize that statistical validity and practical utility 
for NCHS should be only two components of the decision about whether to 
change questions on the ACS--we must also consider the needs of other 
data users inside and outside of government.

ACS Background

    The Census Bureau developed the ACS to collect and update 
demographic, social, economic, and housing data every year that are 
essentially the same as the ``long-form'' data that the Census Bureau 
formerly collected once a decade as part of the decennial census. The 
ACS is an ongoing monthly survey that collects detailed housing and 
socioeconomic data from about 3.54 million addresses in the United 
States and about 36,000 addresses in Puerto Rico each year. The ACS 
also collects detailed socioeconomic data from about 170,000 residents 
living in group quarters facilities in the United States and about 900 
in Puerto Rico. The ACS is now the only source of comparable data about 
social, economic, housing, and demographic characteristics for small 
areas and small subpopulations across the nation and in Puerto Rico. 
Every community in the nation continues to receive a detailed, 
statistical portrait of its social, economic, housing, and demographic 
characteristics each year through one-year and five-year ACS products.

ACS Contact Strategies for Housing Units

    To collect ACS data, the Census Bureau uses a well-researched mail 
contact strategy to encourage self-response to the survey. For 
addresses that were mailed survey materials but did not respond by 
mail, internet, or by calling our telephone questionnaire assistance 
line, the Census Bureau selects a subsample of all households and 
assigns them to the the nonresponse follow-up data collection 
operation. Unmailable household addresses are sampled and also included 
in the nonresponse follow-up data collection operation.
    To encourage self-response in the ACS, the Census Bureau sends up 
to five mailings to housing units 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. The second mailing is a letter that reminds respondents to 
complete the survey online, thanks them if they have already done so, 
and informs them that a paper questionnaire will be sent at a later 
date if the Census Bureau does not receive their response. In a third 
mailing, the paper questionnaire package is sent only to those sample 
addresses that have not completed the online questionnaire within two 
and a half weeks. The fourth mailing is a postcard that reminds 
respondents to respond and informs them that an interviewer may contact 
them if they do not complete the survey. A fifth mailing is a letter 
sent to respondents who have not completed the survey within five 
weeks. This letter provides a due date and reminds the respondents to 
complete their survey to be removed from future contact. The Census 
Bureau will ask those who fill out the survey online to provide an 
email address, which will 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. If the Census 
Bureau does not receive a response or if the household refuses to 
participate, the address may be selected for nonresponse follow-up data 
collection where the interview can be collected by telephone or 
personal visit using computer-assisted interviewing.
    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 both online and 
computer-assisted personal interviewing. A small sample of respondents 
from the nonresponse follow-up data collection interview are 
recontacted for quality assurance purposes.

PRCS Contact Strategies for Housing Units

    For sample housing units in the Puerto Rico Community Survey, a 
different mail strategy is employed. The Census Bureau sends up to five 
mailings to a Puerto Rico address selected to be in the sample. The 
first mailing includes a prenotice letter. The second and fourth 
mailings include the paper questionnaire. The third and fifth mailings 
serve as a reminder to respond to the survey. The mail strategy has no 
references to an internet response option. If the Census Bureau does 
not receive a response or if the household refuses to participate, the 
address may be selected for non-response follow-up data collection 
where the interview can be collected by telephone or personal visit 
using computer-assisted interviewing technology.
    Puerto Rico addresses deemed unmailable because the address is

[[Page 20632]]

incomplete or directs mail only to a post office box are collected by 
computer-assisted personal interviewing. A small sample of respondents 
from the nonresponse follow-up data collection interview are 
recontacted for quality assurance purposes.

ACS/PRCS Contact Strategy for Group Quarters

    The Census Bureau collects data for group quarters through personal 
interview, online, or by paper. The Census Bureau can obtain the 
facility information by allowing the group quarters contact to upload 
the roster of residents online or by conducting a personal visit 
interview with a group quarters contact. Once the interviewer obtains 
the roster of residents, they can randomly select residents for person-
level interviews. During the person-level phase, a computer-assisted 
personal interviewing instrument is used to collect detailed 
information for each sampled resident. Interviewers also have the 
option to distribute a bilingual (English/Spanish) questionnaire to 
residents for self-response if unable to complete a computer-assisted 
personal interviewing interview. Residents in some group quarters will 
have the option to self-respond to the survey online. A small sample of 
respondents are recontacted for quality assurance purposes.
    Statistics produced from the ACS program may include a combination 
of data collected on the survey from respondents as well as 
administrative data from other sources.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 141, 193, 221, and 223.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain for the particular information collection by selecting 
``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using 
the search function and entering either the title of the collection or 
the OMB Control Number 0607-0810.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-06256 Filed 3-22-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P