Management and Budget Office March 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

OMB requests comments on the proposals that it has received from the Federal Interagency Working Group for Research on Race and Ethnicity (Working Group) for revisions to OMB's Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. The Working Group's report and proposals, which are presented here in brief and available on https://www.whitehouse.gov/ briefing-room/presidential-actions/related-omb-material and on https:// www.regulations.gov in their entirety, are the result of a two-year, focused review of the implementation of the current standards. The Working Group's report reflects an examination of current practice, public comment received in response to the Federal Register Notice posted by OMB on September 30, 2016, and empirical analyses of publicly available data. The report also notes statutory needs and feasibility considerations, including cost and public burden. Initial proposals and specific questions to the public appear under the section Issues for Comment. None of the proposals has yet been adopted and no interim decisions have been made concerning them. The Working Group's report and its proposals are being published to solicit further input from the public. OMB plans to announce its decision in mid-2017 so that revisions, if any, can be reflected in preparations for the 2020 Census. OMB can modify or reject any of the proposals, and OMB has the option of making no changes. The report and its proposals are published in this Notice because OMB believes that they are worthy of public discussion, and OMB's decision will benefit from obtaining the public's views on the recommendations.