Notice2024-25655
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
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 5, 2024
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 extension 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 89 Issue 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87841-87843]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25655]
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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, 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 extension 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 January 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#036260706c2d7371624360666d7076702d646c75"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0f6e6c7c60217f7d6e4f6c6a617c7a7c21686079">[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-2024-0029, to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the
required fields, and enter or attach your comments. 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 Nicole Butler, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Office,
301-763-3928, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9df3f4fef2f1f8b3ffe8e9f1f8efddfef8f3eee8eeb3faf2eb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="305e59535f5c551e5245445c55427053555e4345431e575f46">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The U.S. Census Bureau seeks an extension for the American
Community Survey (ACS) and the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS).
Since its founding, the 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
[[Page 87842]]
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
from 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, housing,
and demographic 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 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 data from a
sample of about 150,000 residents living in group quarters facilities
in the United States and about 600 in Puerto Rico. Group quarters are
places where people live or stay in a group living arrangement 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 college/university
student housing, residential treatment centers, skilled nursing
facilities, group homes, military barracks, correctional facilities,
workers' group living quarters, Job Corps centers, and emergency and
transitional shelters.
The ACS program provides estimates annually for the nation, all
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, congressional districts,
metropolitan areas, and counties and places with a population of 65,000
or more. It takes five years for smaller areas and population groups to
accumulate enough data to provide reliable estimates. 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.
The ACS collects detailed social, economic, housing, and
demographic data on over 40 topics. The list of topics and questions
can be found here: <a href="https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/">https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/</a>.
II. Method of Collection
To encourage self-response in the ACS, the Census Bureau sends up
to five mailings to housing unit addresses selected for 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 later 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. Some households are also contacted by
email. If a household starts the online survey and gives an email but
doesn't finish the survey, the household will receive an email reminder
to complete the survey.
If the Census Bureau does not receive a response from an address in
the self-response data collection phase, the address may be selected
for an in-person or phone interview by a Census Bureau field
representative. This is the nonresponse follow-up data collection
operation known as the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI)
phase. The CAPI phase of data collection lasts for one month. Only a
portion of nonresponding addresses, after the self-response phase, are
sampled in CAPI. While this phase of data collection focuses on
personal interviews, respondents still have the option to respond
online or call the Telephone Questionnaire Assistance line and complete
the survey over the telephone.
At the beginning of the CAPI month a sixth mailing is sent to all
mailable addresses in the CAPI sample. This letter urges respondents to
complete the survey online to avoid an in-person interview. If a
household responds online or by phone, they are removed from the
workload and are no longer contacted. If they do not respond, a Census
Bureau field representative attempts to contact them to obtain a
response via a computer-assisted interview.
Unlike the ACS, the PRCS does not have an internet response option.
As a result, a PRCS mailings make 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 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.
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 interviews, telephone interviews, and
internet responses. 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 can also upload 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. Respondents in some group quarters also have the
option to self-respond to the survey online.
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(GQ)(PR), ACS Housing Unit internet electronic instrument
(no form
[[Page 87843]]
number), ACS nonresponse follow up CAPI electronic instrument (no form
number), ACS Failed Edit Follow up CATI 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 GQFQ electronic instrument, ACS Group Quarters internet electronic
instrument (no form number), ACS Group Quarters Resident CAPI
electronic instrument (no form number). ACS Reinterview CATI/CAPI HU RI
electronic instrument (no form number), ACS Reinterview CATI/CAPI GQ RI
electronic instrument (no form number).
Type of Review: Regular submission, Request for an extension
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,576,000 for household
respondents; 20,100 for contacts in GQ; 150,600 people in GQ; 22,875
households for reinterview; and 1,422 GQ contacts for reinterview. The
total estimated number of respondents is 3,770,997.
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; 62,750 for GQ residents 3,813
households for reinterview; and 237 GQ contacts for reinterview. The
estimate is an annual average of 2,455,825 burden hours.
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- 150,600 25 62,750
Telephone, Online Survey and Paper 1(GQ)(PR).
Self-response.
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............................ ........................ 3,770,997 N/A 2,455,825
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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: 13 U.S.C. 141, 193, 221, and 223.
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,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-25655 Filed 11-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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