72424 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2023 / Notices 

comments must be received in the 

regional office within 30 days following 

the meeting. Written comments may be 

emailed to Victoria Moreno at 

vmoreno@usccr.gov. Persons who desire 

additional information may contact the 

Regional Programs Coordination Unit at 

(312) 353–8311. 

Records generated from this meeting 

may be inspected and reproduced at the 

Regional Programs Coordination Unit 

Office, as they become available, both 

before and after the meeting. Records of 

the meetings will be available via 

www.facadatabase.gov under the 

Commission on Civil Rights, North 

Carolina Advisory Committee link. 

Persons interested in the work of this 

Committee are directed to the 

Commission’s website, http://

www.usccr.gov, or may contact the 

Regional Programs Coordination Unit at 

lschiller@usccr.gov. 

Agenda 

I. Welcome & Roll Call 

II. Committee Discussion on Post-Report 

Activities 

III. Committee Discussion & Vote on a 

New Civil Rights Topic 

IV. Public Comment 

V. Next Steps 

VI. Adjournment 

Dated: October 17, 2023. 

David Mussatt, 

Supervisory Chief, Regional Programs Unit. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23175 Filed 10–19–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

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. 

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 acso.pra@census.gov. 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 eRulemaking Portal: https://

www.regulations.gov. All comments 

received are part of the public record. 

No comments will be posted to https:// 

www.regulations.gov 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, dameka.m.reese@census.gov. 

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 longform 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, 


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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 meanstested programs are underreported in 

the ACS and the PRCS and that directpurchase coverage is overreported, in 

part due to misreporting of noncomprehensive 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 inperson, 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 


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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. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2023 / Notices 72427 

TABLE 1—ANNUAL ACS AND PRCS RESPONDENT AND BURDEN HOUR ESTIMATES

Data collection operation Forms or instrument used in data collection 

Annual 

estimated 

number of 

respondents 

Estimated 

minutes per 

respondent by 

data collection 

activity 

Annual 

estimated 

burden hours 

I. ACS Household Questionnaire, Online Survey, Telephone, and Personal Visit.ACS–1, ACS 1(SP), ACS–1PR, ACS– 

1PR(SP), Online Survey, Telephone, CAPI.

3,576,000 40 2,384,000 

II. ACS GQ Facility Questionnaire CAPI— 

Telephone and Personal Visit.

CAPI GQFQ ................................................... 20,100 15 5,025 

III. ACS GQ CAPI Personal Interview or Telephone, and Paper Self-response.CAPI, ACS–1(GQ), ACS–1(GQ)(PR) ............ 170,900 25 71,208 

IV. ACS Household Reinterview—CATI/CAPI ACS HU–RI .................................................... 22,875 10 3,813 

V. ACS GQ-level Reinterview—CATI/CAPI .... ACS GQ–RI .................................................... 1,422 10 237 

Totals ....................................................... ......................................................................... 3,791,297 N/A 2,464,283 

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 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

[Docket No. 231005–0239] 

Membership of the Performance 

Review Boards 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of Membership on the 

OS Performance Review Board, ITA 

Performance Review Board, and the 

EDA, NTIA, BIS, and MBDA 

Performance Review Board. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce 

(DOC), announces the appointment of 

those individuals who have been 

selected to serve as members of the 

Office of the Secretary (OS) Performance 

Review Board, International Trade 

Administration (ITA) Performance 

Review Board, and the Economic 

Development Administration (EDA), 

National Telecommunications and 

Information Administration (NTIA), 

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), 

Minority Business Development Agency 

(MBDA) Performance Review Board. 

DATES: The period of appointment for 

those individuals selected for the 

Performance Review Boards begins on 

October 20, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jennifer Jeffries, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, Office of Human Resources 

Management, Office of Executive 

Resources, 14th and Constitution 

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, at 

(202) 306–0426. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with 5 U.S.C. 4314 (c) (4), 

the Office of the Secretary, Department 

of Commerce (DOC), announces the 

appointment of those individuals who 

have been selected to serve as members 

of the OS Performance Review Board, 

ITA Performance Review Board, and the 

EDA, NTIA, BIS, and MBDA 

Performance Review Board. The 

Performance Review Boards are 

responsible for (1) reviewing 

performance appraisals and ratings of 

Senior Executive Service (SES) and (SL) 

members and (2) making 

recommendations to the appointing 

authority on other performance 

management issues, such as pay 

adjustments and bonuses. The 

appointment of these members to the 

Performance Review Board will be for a 

period of twenty-four (24) months. The 

members listed in this notice can serve 

on any of the three boards mentioned if 

alternate members are needed. 

The name, position title, and type of 

appointment of each member of the 

Office of the Secretary Performance 

Review Board are set forth below: 

1. Department of Commerce, Office of 

the Deputy Secretary within 

Enterprise Services, LaMarsha 

DeMarr, Director, Human Resources 

Services, Enterprise Services Career 

SES 

2. Department of Commerce, Office of 

Legislative and Intergovernmental 

Affairs, Rachit Choksi, Director for 

Oversight, Non-Career SES 

3. Department of Commerce, Office of 

Budget, Michael Phelps, Director, 

Office of Budget, Career SES 

4. Department of Commerce, Economic 

Development Administration, 

Angela Martinez, Denver Regional 

Director, Career SES 

5. Department of Commerce, Office of 

the Deputy Chief Financial Officer 

for Financial Management, Holden 


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