```

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 236 (Monday, December 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 97582-97583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28849]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau

Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; High-Frequency Surveys Program/Household Trends and Outlook 
Pulse Survey (HTOPS)

    On July 22, 2024, 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 Phase 4.2 of the Household 
Pulse Survey (OMB No. 0607-1029, Exp. 01/31/27) and on July 12, 2024, 
clearance was received to conduct the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 
Census Household Panel topical operations (OMB No. 0607-1025, Exp. 6/
30/26). The Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS) is 
designed to ensure availability of frequent data collection for 
nationwide estimates on a variety of topics for a variety of subgroups 
of the population. This notice serves to inform of the Department's 
intent to request clearance from OMB to conduct HTOPS sample 
replenishment and January and February topical operations.
    The purpose of the sample replenishment baseline instrument is to 
recruit a nationally representative survey panel and also collect data 
on a variety of topics of interest. The topical survey that will field 
in January will include a household roster update and a section of 
assistance program income questions that will be used to test several 
possible changes being made in preparation for the transition to a 
multimode version of the Survey of Income and Program Participation 
(SIPP) the SIPP redesign effort on a larger representative respondent 
sample. The results of this test will be for internal use only. The 
February topical survey will include content from the Household Pulse 
Survey. The Household Pulse Survey will continue to serve as an 
experimental endeavor coordinated with other federal agencies to 
produce near real-time data to understand the effects of current 
events, including health events, natural disaster events, or other 
social or economic events facing the nation or a significant portion of 
the nation.
    It is the Department's intention to commence data collection using 
the revised instrument on or about July 23, 2024. We invite 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 requested via the 
Federal Register on February 15, 2024 (OMB No. 0607-1029) during a 30-
day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for 
public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: High Frequency Surveys Program/Household Trends and Outlook 
Pulse Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1029.
    Form Number(s): Not yet determined.
    Type of Request: Regular submission. Request for a Revision of a 
Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: Baseline: 18,000 respondents/Topicals 17,812 
panel members.
    Average Hours per Response: Baseline: .400 (24 minutes); Topicals: 
.333 (20 minutes).
    Burden Hours: Baseline: 7,200/Topical 3,300 per month.
    Needs and Uses: The High-Frequency Surveys Program was established 
as a natural progression from the creation of the Household Pulse 
Survey. The Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS) is a 
probability-based nationwide nationally representative survey panel 
designed to test the methods to collect data on a variety of topics of 
interest, and for conducting experimentation on alternative question 
wording and methodological approaches. The goal of the HTOPS is to 
ensure availability of frequent data collection for nationwide 
estimates on a variety of topics and a variety of subgroups of the 
population, meeting standards for transparent quality reporting of the 
Federal Statistical

[[Page 97583]]

Agencies and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
    Panelists and households selected for the HTOPS were recruited from 
the Census Bureau's gold standard Master Address File. This ensures 
that HTOPS is rooted in this rigorously developed and maintained frame 
and available for linkage to administrative records securely maintained 
and curated by the Census Bureau. Invitations to complete the monthly 
surveys will be sent via email and SMS messages. Questionnaires will be 
mainly internet self-response. The HTOPS will maintain 
representativeness by allowing respondents who do not use the internet 
to respond via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). All 
panelists will receive an incentive for each complete questionnaire. 
Periodic replenishment samples will maintain representativeness and 
panelists will be replaced after a period of three years.
    Affected Public: Households.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: 13 U.S.C. 141, 182 and 193.
    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 0607-1025.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-28849 Filed 12-6-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
```