Notice2023-23249
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey
Primary source
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Published
October 20, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentCensus Bureau
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed revision of the American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey, prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 202 (Friday, October 20, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 202 (Friday, October 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72424-72427]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23249]
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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 American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey
AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the
proposed revision of the American Community Survey and Puerto Rico
Community Survey, prior to the submission of the information collection
request (ICR) to OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before December 19, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#debfbdadb1f0aeacbf9ebdbbb0adabadf0b9b1a8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b8d9dbcbd796c8cad9f8dbddd6cbcdcb96dfd7ce">[email protected]</span></a>. Please reference the American Community
Survey and the Puerto Rico Community Survey in the subject line of your
comments. You may also submit comments, identified by Docket Number
USBC-2023-0009, to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. All comments received are part of the public
record. No comments will be posted to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> 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, or Adobe PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Dameka Reese, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Office,
301-763-3804, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#75111418101e145b185b07101006103516101b0600065b121a03"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bbdfdad6ded0da95d695c9dedec8defbd8ded5c8cec895dcd4cd">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
Since its founding, the U.S. Census Bureau has balanced the demands
of a growing country requiring information about its people and economy
with concerns for respondents' confidentiality and the time and effort
it takes respondents to answer questions. Beginning with the 1810
Census, Congress updated the set of questions asked in the 1790 and
1800 Censuses by adding questions to support a range of public concerns
and uses. 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 Census Bureau introduced the
long-form census questionnaire in order to ask more detailed questions
to 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 Census Bureau to plan the implementation of the
Continuous Measurement Survey, later called the American Community
Survey (ACS). After years of testing, the ACS was implemented in 2005
replacing the need for long-form data collection in future decennial
censuses. The ACS is conducted throughout the United States and in
Puerto Rico, where it is called the Puerto Rico Community Survey
(PRCS). The ACS samples approximately 3.5 million housing unit
addresses in the United States and about 36,000 housing unit addresses
in Puerto Rico each year. A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a
mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room occupied or intended
for occupancy as separate living quarters. The ACS also collects
detailed socioeconomic data from a sample of about 170,000 residents
living in group quarters facilities in the United States and about 900
in Puerto Rico. Group quarters are places where people live or stay, in
a group living arrangement that is owned or managed by an entity or
organization providing housing and/or services for the residents.
People living in group quarters usually are not related to each other.
Group quarters include such places as college/university student
housing, residential treatment centers, skilled nursing facilities,
group homes, military barracks, correctional facilities, workers' group
living quarters and Job Corps centers, and emergency and transitional
shelters.
The proposed content for the 2025 ACS and PRCS reflects changes to
content and instructions that were recommended as a result of the 2022
Content Test. The Census Bureau periodically conducts tests of new and
revised survey content to ensure the ACS and the PRCS are meeting the
data needs of its stakeholders. The primary objective of content tests
is to determine whether changes to question wording, instructions,
response categories, and underlying constructs improve the quality of
the data collected. The 2025 survey changes cover several topics:
household roster, educational attainment, health insurance coverage,
[[Page 72425]]
disability, and labor force questions. Additionally, three new
questions are proposed to be added to the ACS and the PRCS on solar
panels, electric vehicles, and sewage disposal. A summary of changes
for each topic are as follows:
Household Roster--The roster instructions have not changed since
the 1990s while household living arrangements have increased in
complexity. The revisions to the instructions help improve within
household coverage, especially among young children and tenuously
attached residents.
Educational Attainment--A relatively high percentage of adults are
selecting the response category, ``No schooling completed.'' Ongoing
research suggests that this includes adults who have completed some
level of schooling. The revision reduces erroneous reports in this
category through formatting and wording changes to clarify the response
options.
Health Insurance Coverage--Since implementation in 2008, research
has found that Medicaid and other means-tested programs are
underreported in the ACS and the PRCS and that direct-purchase coverage
is overreported, in part due to misreporting of non-comprehensive
health plans and reporting multiple coverage types for the same plan
(Mach & O'Hara, 2011; Lynch et al., 2011; Boudreaux et al., 2014;
O'Hara, 2010; Boudreaux et al., 2011; Boudreaux et al., 2013).
Moreover, revisions to the health insurance coverage question would
help capture changes to the health insurance landscape that occurred
with and since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act. Changes to the health insurance coverage question include a
change in formatting of the question that adds an explicit response
category for those who are uninsured, reordering some response options
and rewording response options for direct purchase, Medicaid, employer,
and veteran's health care.
Disability--The series of six disability questions are being
revised to capture information on functioning in a manner that reflects
advances in the measurement of disability and is conceptually
consistent with the World Health Organization's International
Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) disability
framework (World Health Organization, 2001). Changes include using
graded response categories to reflect the continuum of functional
abilities (the current questions use a dichotomous yes or no response),
reordering the questions, and modifying question text. Additionally, a
new question will ask about difficulties related to psychosocial and
cognitive disability in addition to problems with speech.
Labor Force--Labor force questions related to when the person last
worked, the number of weeks, and the number of hours worked are being
updated to clarify instructions to only include work for pay, to
include all jobs a person may hold, and to ensure that military service
is included.
Electric Vehicles--This new question asks if there are plug-in
electric vehicles kept at the housing unit. By adding this question, we
will be able to provide data to stakeholders to project future energy
sources, infrastructure, and consumer needs for the growing popularity
of electric vehicles. The ACS and the PRCS would be the only data
source at the housing unit level to adequately inform these
projections.
Solar Panels--This new question asks if the housing unit uses solar
panels that generate electricity. By adding this question, we will be
able to obtain data for operational solar panels on a housing unit
level across the country. This information will help the Energy
Information Administration (EIA) match energy consumption to energy
production across the United States.
Sewage Disposal--This new question asks if the housing unit is
connected to a public sewer, septic tank, or other type of sewage
system. By adding this question, we will be able to obtain consistent
data on the decentralized wastewater infrastructure status in rural and
other communities. These data are needed to protect public health,
water quality, and to understand and meet the country's growing
infrastructure needs. The ACS and the PRCS are the only available
surveys that can provide these levels of data in a timely, consistent,
and standardized manner.
II. Method of Collection
To encourage self-response in the ACS, the Census Bureau sends up
to five mailings to housing unit addresses 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 we do not receive their response. In a third
mailing, the paper questionnaire is sent only to those sample addresses
that have not completed the online questionnaire within two weeks of
receipt of the first mailing. 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
sent to respondents who have not completed the survey within five
weeks. This letter provides a due date and reminds the respondents to
return their questionnaires to be removed from future contact. If a
respondent starts to answer the survey online and provides an email
address but does not complete the survey, an email will be sent to the
respondent to remind them to return to the survey to complete their
online questionnaire. If the Census Bureau does not receive a response
or if the household refuses to participate, the address may be selected
for an interview in-person or by telephone by a Census Bureau field
representative, which we call the nonresponse follow-up data collection
operation. Respondents also have the option to call the Telephone
Questionnaire Assistance line and complete the survey over the
telephone. A small sample of respondents from the nonresponse follow-up
data collection operation are recontacted for quality assurance
purposes.
A sixth mailing, sent to all mailable addresses selected for an
interview in-person, includes an invitation to participate in the ACS
online and reminds the respondents to complete the survey online to
avoid an in-person interview. 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 by a
Census Bureau field representative. During the person-level phase, a
field representative uses a computer-assisted personal interview
automated instrument to collect detailed information for each sampled
resident. A small sample of respondents from the nonresponse follow-up
data collection operation are recontacted for quality assurance
purposes.
For sample housing units in the PRCS, a different mail strategy is
employed. The Census Bureau continues to use the previously used mail
strategy with no references to an internet response option. 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 survey. The third and
fifth mailings are postcards that serve as a reminder to respond to
[[Page 72426]]
the survey. If the Puerto Rico address is deemed unmailable because the
address is incomplete or directs mail only to a post office box, the
address may be selected for an interview in-person or by telephone. A
small sample of respondents from the nonresponse follow-up data
collection operation are recontacted for quality assurance purposes.
The Census Bureau employs a separate strategy to collect data from
group quarters. The Census Bureau collects data for sampled people in
group quarters through personal interview and telephone interview. The
Census Bureau will obtain the facility information by conducting a
telephone or personal visit interview with a group quarter contact.
During this interview, the Census Bureau obtains a roster of residents
and randomly selects them for person-level interviews. The facility
also has the option of uploading their facility roster to the Census
Bureau online listing application. During the person-level phase, a
field representative uses a computer-assisted personal interview
automated instrument to collect detailed information for each sampled
resident. The field representative also has the option to distribute a
bilingual (English/Spanish) questionnaire to residents for self-
response if they are unable to complete a computer-assisted personal
interview. Beginning in 2024, respondents in some group quarters will
have the option to self-respond to the survey online. A small sample of
facilities are recontacted for quality assurance purposes.
In 2018, the OMB in conjunction with the Census Bureau, solicited
proposals for question changes or additions from over twenty federal
agencies participating in the OMB Interagency Committee for the ACS
(including the PRCS). The proposals contained a justification for each
change and described any previous testing of question wording, the
expected impact of the proposed revisions to the estimates, and the
estimated respondent burden. For proposed new questions, the
justification also described the need for the new data, whether federal
law or regulations supported the collection of the data for small areas
or small populations, if other data sources were available to provide
the information, how policy needs or emerging data needs would be
addressed through the new question, an explanation of why the data were
needed with the geographic precision and frequency provided by the ACS
and the PRCS, and described any previous testing of the questions.
Proposals were reviewed by OMB, the Census Bureau, as well as the
Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) Subcommittee on the
ACS. The ICSP Subcommittee on the ACS advises the Chief Statistician of
the United States at OMB and the Director of the Census Bureau on how
the ACS can best fulfill its role in the portfolio of federal household
surveys and provide the most useful information with the least amount
of burden.
After the proposals were reviewed and approved, topical
subcommittees were formed from stakeholder federal agencies to develop
question wording and provide input on testing and evaluation
methodology. Cognitive testing was conducted for all questions. The
Census Bureau contracted with Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
International, who conducted three rounds of cognitive testing. The
results of cognitive testing from the first two rounds informed the
decisions on specific wording to proceed with testing. These rounds of
testing included both English and Spanish and testing for different
modes of administration. An additional third round of cognitive testing
was conducted in Spanish in Puerto Rico and in English for residents of
group quarters (facilities where groups of unrelated people live such
as nursing homes, college dorms, and military barracks). With approval
from OMB, questions were tested in the 2022 Content Test, which was a
split-sample field test. Data from the test were used to evaluate the
proposed question changes using a variety of metrics, including item
missing data rates, response distributions, comparisons to benchmarks,
response reliability, and other topic-specific metrics.
The topic subcommittees reviewed the results of the field test and
made recommendations to either implement the tested change or to keep
the question as is. Changes were recommended for the following topics:
household roster, educational attainment, health insurance coverage,
disability, and labor force questions. The topic subcommittees also
supported adding three new questions on solar panels, electric
vehicles, and sewage disposal. Changes to three tested topics--Income,
Labor Force, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--
were not recommended. These topics tested changes to the reference
period from the ``last 12 months'' to the last calendar year, in
preparation for eventually using administrative data to replace or
supplement income data on the ACS. Before implementing a change to the
reference period, further evaluation with administrative records data
needs to be completed once administrative data are available.
Therefore, a decision on implementation of changing the reference
period will be delayed until that analysis can be completed. The ACS
will move forward with recommending changes to the instructions for the
labor force questions.
The ICSP Subcommittee on the ACS reviewed the proposed content
changes and recommended their approval to the OMB and the Census
Bureau. The proposed content changes would apply to the ACS and PRCS
paper questionnaire and automated data collection instruments for both
Housing Unit and Group Quarters operations.
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), ACSGQFQ, ACS
GQQI, and ACS GQRI.
Type of Review: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a
Currently Approved Collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,576,000 for household
respondents; 20,100 for contacts in GQ; 170,900 people in GQ; 22,875
households for reinterview; and 1,422 GQ contacts for reinterview. The
total estimated number of respondents is 3,791,297.
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: 2,384,000 for household
respondents; 5,025 for contacts in GQ; 71,208 for GQ residents 3,813
households for reinterview; and 237 GQ contacts for reinterview. The
estimate is an annual average of 2,464,283 burden hours.
[[Page 72427]]
Table 1--Annual ACS and PRCS Respondent and Burden Hour Estimates
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Estimated
Annual minutes per
Forms or instrument used estimated respondent by Annual
Data collection operation in data collection number of data estimated
respondents collection burden hours
activity
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I. ACS Household Questionnaire, Online ACS-1, ACS 1(SP), ACS- 3,576,000 40 2,384,000
Survey, Telephone, and Personal Visit. 1PR, ACS-1PR(SP),
Online Survey,
Telephone, CAPI.
II. ACS GQ Facility Questionnaire CAPI GQFQ............... 20,100 15 5,025
CAPI--Telephone and Personal Visit.
III. ACS GQ CAPI Personal Interview or CAPI, ACS-1(GQ), ACS- 170,900 25 71,208
Telephone, and Paper Self-response. 1(GQ)(PR).
IV. ACS Household Reinterview--CATI/ ACS HU-RI............... 22,875 10 3,813
CAPI.
V. ACS GQ-level Reinterview--CATI/CAPI ACS GQ-RI............... 1,422 10 237
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Totals............................ ........................ 3,791,297 N/A 2,464,283
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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. 141 and 193.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-23249 Filed 10-19-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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