This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

3213 

Vol. 80, No. 14 

Thursday, January 22, 2015 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Research Service 

Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive 

License 

AGENCY: Agricultural Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Agricultural Research Service, intends 

to grant to the University of NebraskaLincoln of Lincoln, Nebraska, an 

exclusive license to the smooth 

bromegrass variety named ‘‘NEWELL’’. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before February 23, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: USDA, 

ARS, Office of Technology Transfer, 

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Rm. 4–1174, 

Beltsville, Maryland 20705–5131. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mojdeh Bahar of the Office of 

Technology Transfer at the Beltsville 

address given above; telephone: 301– 

504–5989. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Government’s rights in this 

plant variety are assigned to the United 

States of America, as represented by the 

Secretary of Agriculture. The 

prospective exclusive license will be 

royalty-bearing and will comply with 

the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 

209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective 

exclusive license may be granted unless, 

within thirty (30) days from the date of 

this published Notice, the Agricultural 

Research Service receives written 

evidence and argument which 

establishes that the grant of the license 

would not be consistent with the 

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 

CFR 404.7. 

Mojdeh Bahar, 

Assistant Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00950 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Research Service 

Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive 

License 

AGENCY: Agricultural Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Agricultural Research Service, intends 

to grant to the University of NebraskaLincoln of Lincoln, Nebraska, an 

exclusive license to the switchgrass 

variety named ‘‘LIBERTY’’. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before February 23, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: USDA, 

ARS, Office of Technology Transfer, 

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Rm. 4–1174, 

Beltsville, Maryland 20705–5131. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mojdeh Bahar of the Office of 

Technology Transfer at the Beltsville 

address given above; telephone: 301– 

504–5989. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Government’s rights in this 

plant variety are assigned to the United 

States of America, as represented by the 

Secretary of Agriculture. The 

prospective exclusive license will be 

royalty-bearing and will comply with 

the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 

209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective 

exclusive license may be granted unless, 

within thirty (30) days from the date of 

this published Notice, the Agricultural 

Research Service receives written 

evidence and argument which 

establishes that the grant of the license 

would not be consistent with the 

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 

CFR 404.7. 

Mojdeh Bahar, 

Assistant Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00951 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Sunshine Act Meeting Notice 

AGENCY: United States Commission on 

Civil Rights. 

ACTION: Notice of Commission Business 

Meeting. 

DATE AND TIME: Thursday, January 29, 

2015; 1:00 p.m. EST. 

PLACE: 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 

Suite 1150, Washington, DC. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lenore Ostrowsky, Acting Chief, Public 

Affairs Unit (202) 376–8591. 

Hearing-impaired persons who will 

attend the briefing and require the 

services of a sign language interpreter 

should contact Pamela Dunston at (202) 

376–8105 or at signlanguage@usccr.gov 

at least seven business days before the 

scheduled date of the meeting. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Meeting Agenda 

This meeting is open to the public. 

I. Approval of Agenda 

II. Program Planning 

• Vote on Appointment of Vice Chair 

for the Commission 

• Discussion on FY15 Appropriations 

Explanatory Statement 

• Discussion and Vote on Updating 

Select Commission Reports 

• Discussion and Vote on date for the 

Police Practices briefing 

• Discussion and Vote on revised 

Educational Equity paper 

• Discussion and Vote on 

Anniversary of 13th Amendment 

Press Release 

III. Management and Operations 

• Staff Director’s Report 

IV. State Advisory Committee (SAC) 

Appointments 

• Florida 

• Michigan 

• South Carolina 

• Texas 

• Virginia 

• Wisconsin 

V. Adjourn Meeting 

Dated: January 16, 2015. 

Marlene Sallo, 

Staff Director. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01109 Filed 1–20–15; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

U.S. Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; 2016–2018 

American Community Survey Methods 

Panel Testing 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, 

Commerce. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
3214 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 14 / Thursday, January 22, 2015 / Notices 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before March 23, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at jjessup@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Cheryl Chambers, Rm. 

3K067, U.S. Census Bureau, American 

Community Survey Office, Washington, 

DC 20233, by FAX to (301) 763–8070 or 

email at 

acso.communications@census.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The American Community Survey 

(ACS) collects detailed socioeconomic 

data from about 3.5 million addresses in 

the United States and 36,000 in Puerto 

Rico each year. The ACS also collects 

detailed socioeconomic data from about 

195,000 residents living in Group 

Quarter (GQ) facilities. Resulting 

tabulations from that data collection are 

provided on a yearly basis. The ACS 

allows the Census Bureau to provide 

timely and relevant housing and 

socioeconomic statistics, even for low 

levels of geography. 

An ongoing data collection effort with 

an annual sample of this magnitude 

requires that the ACS continue research, 

testing and evaluations aimed at 

improving data quality, achieving 

survey cost efficiencies, and improving 

ACS questionnaire content and related 

data collection materials. The ACS 

Methods Panel is a research program 

that is designed to address and respond 

to survey issues and needs. During the 

2016–2018 period, the Methods Panel 

may include testing methods for 

increasing survey efficiencies, reducing 

survey cost, lessening respondent 

burden, and improving response rates. 

Testing may also include methods to 

improve data quality. 

At this time, plans are in place to 

propose several tests: a 2016 ACS 

Content Test, a 2016 mail messaging 

test, a 2017 self-response test with the 

potential to test both mail messaging as 

well as questionnaire content, a 2018 

self-response test building on the 

previous tests, as well as tests of 

Internet data collection enhancements 

in 2017 and 2018. Since the ACS 

Methods Panel is designed to address 

emerging issues, we may conduct 

additional testing as needed. Any 

additional testing would focus on 

methods for reducing data collection 

costs, improving data quality, revising 

content, or testing new questions that 

have an urgent need to be included on 

the ACS. 

In response to Federal agencies’ 

requests for new and revised ACS 

questions, the Census Bureau plans to 

conduct the 2016 ACS Content Test. In 

2014, the Office of Management and 

Budget Interagency Committee for the 

ACS identified candidate versions of the 

requested new and revised questions, to 

be finalized in 2015. The objective of 

the 2016 ACS Content Test, for both 

new and existing questions, is to 

determine the impact of changing 

question wording and response 

categories, and redefining underlying 

constructs, on the quality of the data 

collected. The Census Bureau proposes 

to evaluate changes to the questions by 

comparing the revised questions to the 

current ACS questions, or for new 

questions, to compare the performance 

of two question versions to each other 

as well as to other well-known sources 

of such information. 

In response to declining response 

rates and increasing costs, the Census 

Bureau plans to study methods to 

increase self-response, the least 

expensive mode of data collection, 

especially Internet response. The tests 

would include changes to messages 

included in mail materials to motivate 

the public to respond to the ACS, 

increase awareness of the ACS, as well 

as changes to design elements of the 

materials, including color and graphics. 

The tests would be conducted in series, 

in 2016, 2017, and 2018, building on 

previous tests’ findings. Additionally, 

the test in 2017, and possibly 2018, may 

include content changes based on 

continued review of the ACS content for 

respondent burden. The Census Bureau 

will assess the impact on data quality of 

the changes to the questions. 

The ACS began collecting data using 

the Internet in January 2013. To date, 

the Web site used to collect the data is 

designed for a desktop computer screen. 

The Internet tests being proposed would 

evaluate Internet data collection via 

mobile devices, examine ways to reduce 

Internet break-offs, email testing, as well 

as other improvements to Internet data 

collection. 

II. Method of Collection 

2016 Content Test—The ACS Content 

Test data collection protocol will be 

based on the protocol used in the 

production ACS. That is, we will collect 

data across four modes (Internet, mail, 

Computer Assisted Telephone 

Interviews (CATI), and Computer 

Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI). 

There will also be a Content Follow-up 

reinterview as part of the content test 

where we will attempt a follow-up CATI 

reinterview with all households that 

responded in the field test and for 

whom we have a telephone number. 

This reinterview will focus on the 

particular questions that we are 

evaluating in the field test, and will not 

include every question asked in the 

original interview. 

2016 Mail Messaging Test—We will 

use the same modes we offer in ACS 

production in the first month of data 

collection for the self-response test; that 

is, Internet and a mail-back paper 

questionnaire. No CATI or CAPI 

interviews are necessary for this test. 

Different strategies to encourage selfresponse may be used, including 

changes to the number and timing of the 

mailings as well as the materials 

included in each mailing. 

2017 Self-Response Test—We will use 

the same modes we offer in ACS 

production in the first month of data 

collection for the self-response test; that 

is, Internet and a paper questionnaire. 

For the portions of the test that include 

content changes, CATI and CAPI 

interviews are necessary. Different mail 

materials to encourage self-response 

may be used, including changes to the 

number of mailings as well as the 

materials included in each mailing. For 

the portions of the test that include 

content changes, a follow-up CATI 

reinterview will be conducted with all 

households that responded in the field 

test and for whom we have a telephone 

number. This reinterview will focus on 

the particular questions that we are 

evaluating in the field test, and will not 

include every question asked in the 

original interview. 

Internet Tests in 2017 and 2018—We 

will use the same modes we offer in 

ACS production in the first month of 

data collection for the Internet tests; that 

is, we will send a mailing asking 

sampled units to respond online, with a 

nonresponse follow-up mailing of a 

paper questionnaire about two and a 

half weeks later. There are no plans to 

conduct CATI or CAPI nonresponse 

follow-up on test cases. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 14 / Thursday, January 22, 2015 / Notices 3215 

2018 Self-Response Test—We will use 

Internet and a paper questionnaire for 

this test and include different mailing 

strategies. CATI and CAPI interviews, as 

well as Content Followup, may be 

necessary for this test if content changes 

are tested. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0607–0936. 

Form Number(s): ACS–1, ACS– 

1(PR)SP, ACS CATI(HU), ACS 

CAPI(HU) and ACS RI(HU). 

Type of Review: Regular submission. 

Affected Public: Individuals and 

households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

We plan to contact the following 

number of respondents: 

2016 Content Test—70,000 sampled 

addresses during the field test and 

40,000 responding addresses during the 

content follow-up conducted by 

telephone. 

2016 Mail Messaging Test—60,000 

sampled addresses. 

2017 Self-Response Test—60,000 

sampled addresses and 35,000 

responding addresses during the content 

follow-up conducted by telephone. 

Internet Tests in 2017 and 2018— 

108,000 sampled addresses each. 

2018 Self-Response Test—60,000 

sampled addresses and 35,000 

responding addresses during the content 

follow-up conducted by telephone. 

Estimated Time per Response: 

Estimates are: 2016 Content Test, 40 

minutes, Content follow-up, 15 minutes; 

Mail Messaging Test, 40 minutes; 2017 

and 2018 Self-Response Test, 40 

minutes, Content follow-up, 15 minutes; 

Internet Tests, 40 minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: The estimate is an annual 

average of 112,722 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: Except for their time, there is no 

cost to respondents. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 

Sections 141 and 193. 

IV. Request for Comments 

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden 

(including hours and cost) of the 

proposed collection of information; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for OMB 

approval of this information collection; 

they also will become a matter of public 

record. 

Dated: January 15, 2015. 

Glenna Mickelson, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00934 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; 2015 National 

Survey of Children’s Health Pretest 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before March 23, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at jjessup@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Scott Boggess, U.S. 

Census Bureau, ADDP, HQ–6H063, 4600 

Silver Hill Road, Washington, DC 

20233–0001 (301–763–6167 or via the 

Internet at Scott.Boggess@census.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The National Survey of Children’s 

Health (NSCH) Pretest project plan will 

consist of several panels to assess data 

collection mode preferences (Paper-andPencil Interviewing (PAPI) and Internet) 

of respondents, amount of respondent 

incentives to gain cooperation and 

participation in the survey, and 

telephone as a method of nonresponse 

follow-up. 

The design for the pretest survey data 

collection is assumed to be two-phase: 

the first phase will screen for 

households with children and children 

with special health care needs; followed 

by the selection of a single child in 

households with children and phase 

two will present age-based topical 

questions. There are three separate agebased topical surveys that a household 

could be selected for: 0 to 5 year old 

children, 6 to 11 year old children, or 

12 to 17 year old children. Census staff 

will develop a sampling plan to select 

a pretest sample of 16,000 households 

(addresses) from a vendor-provided 

sampling frame with split panels to test 

mode of administration (Mail and Web 

Push + Mail) and use of cash incentives 

($5 or $10). The target overall response 

rate for the pretest is 70 percent for the 

screener and 80 percent for the topical 

questionnaire. 

The pretest allows for the preparation 

of a successful first year production 

survey which enables the MCHB to 

produce national and state-based 

estimates on the health and well-being 

of children, their families, and their 

communities as well as estimates of the 

prevalence and impact of children with 

special health care needs. 

II. Method of Collection 

Mailout/Mailback Paper-and-Pencil 

Interviewing (PAPI) Treatment Groups 

Plans for the Mailout/Mailback pretest 

treatment groups include a sample of 

8,000 households that will be mailed an 

English and Spanish language selfadministered PAPI screening instrument 

(questionnaire) followed by a separate 

age-based topical instrument 

(questionnaire). The households 

selected for this group will all be sent 

a $5 cash incentive with the initial 

request to complete the screener 

instrument. This group will then be 

further broken down into two different 

treatment groups: one group will receive 

a $5 cash incentive with the topical 

instrument and the other will receive a 

$10 cash incentive with the topical 

instrument. The sample sizes for each of 

these different cash incentive groups is 

4,000 households. 

Web Push + Mail Treatment Groups 

Plans for the Web Push + Mail pretest 

treatment group include a sample of 

8,000 households that will receive 

instructions on how to complete an 

English or Spanish language screening 

instrument (questionnaire) via the Web. 

The households selected for the Web 

Push + Mail pretest treatment group will 

be taken through the screening 

instrument to determine if they screen 

into one of the three topical 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES