[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 19 (Monday, February 1, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7692-7693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02076]


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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; Household Pulse Survey

    On October 31, 2020, the Department of Commerce received clearance 
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 to conduct the Household Pulse Survey 
(OMB No. 0607-1013, Exp. 10/31/23). The Household Pulse Survey was 
designed to meet a need for timely information associated with 
household experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.
    The Department is committed to ensuring that the data collected by 
the Household Pulse Survey continue to meet information needs as they 
may evolve over the course of the pandemic. This notice serves to 
inform of the Department's intent to request clearance from OMB to make 
some revisions to the Household Pulse Survey questionnaire. To ensure 
public burden is not increased, the revisions would reflect the removal 
of questions for which utility has declined over time, and the addition 
of topics based on public comment previously received and in consult 
with other Federal agencies. New questions would relate to disability, 
child health access, telehealth and childcare. In addition, given the 
time-critical circumstances, questions on intention to receive the 
Covid-19 vaccine were added via a request approved by OMB on December 
30, 2020 to coincide with the availability of vaccines; questions 
previously approved by OMB relating to the economic stimulus payments 
were also released into production once payments began to be issued.
    It is the Department's intention to commence data collection using 
the revised instrument on or about March 1, 2021. The Department 
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. Public comments were previously sought on 
the Household Pulse Survey via the Federal Register on May 19, 2020 and 
again on June 3, 2020. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for 
public comments on the proposed revisions.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.

[[Page 7693]]

    Title: Household Pulse Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1013.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Request for a Revision of a Currently Approved 
Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 3,150,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 20 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 1,039,500.
    Needs and Uses: Data produced by the Household Pulse Survey are 
designed to inform on a range of topics related to households' 
experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. Topics to date have included 
employment, facility to telework, travel patterns, income loss, 
spending patterns, food and housing security, access to benefits, 
mental health and access to care, and educational disruption (K-12 and 
post-secondary). The requested revision, if approved by OMB, will 
remove selected items from the questions for which utility has declined 
and add questions based on information needs expressed via public 
comment and in consult with other Federal agencies. The overall burden 
to the public will remain unchanged. The new items relate to 
disability, child health access, telehealth and childcare; 
additionally, questions on individuals' intention to receive the Covid-
19 vaccine were added with OMB's approval on December 30, 2020, and 
questions previously approved regarding economic stimulus payments were 
launched into production once payments began to be issued.
    The Household Pulse Survey was initially launched in April, 2020 as 
an experimental project (see https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products.html) under emergency clearance from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) initially granted April 19, 2020; regular 
clearance was subsequently sought and approved by OMB on October 30, 
2020 (OMB No. 0607-1013; Exp. 10/30/2023).
    Affected Public: Households.
    Frequency: Households will be selected once to participate in a 20-
minute survey.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 8(b), 182 
and 196.
    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 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 and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-1013.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-02076 Filed 1-29-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P