[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 149 (Monday, August 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45790-45791]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-19656]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    DOC has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
clearance the following proposal for collection of information under 
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Monthly Survey of Residential Alterations and Repairs.
    Form Number(s): SORAR-705.
    Agency Approval Number: 0607-0130.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 8,400 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 2,800.
    Avg. Hours Per Response: 15 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau is requesting a revision of 
the currently approved collection for the Quarterly Survey of 
Residential Alterations and Repairs. The form used to collect this 
information is SORAR-705. The Census Bureau is responsible for 
preparing estimates of the

[[Page 45791]]

expenditures for residential improvement and repairs. This segment of 
the construction industry amounted to more than $170 billion in 2002. 
While the majority of the data are gathered from the Consumer 
Expenditure Survey, a portion of the data ($50 billion in 2002) are 
collected on the SORAR-705 form. This survey is mailed to a sample of 
owners of rental or vacant residential properties. Since residential 
improvement and repairs are a large and growing economic sector, any 
measure of the construction industry would be incomplete without the 
inclusion of these data.
    In an effort to make our data dissemination more timely, the survey 
will begin monthly data collection for the January 2004 survey month. 
To improve the scope of the survey, we will begin to collect 
expenditures for wall-to-wall carpeting, kitchen appliances, 
manufactured housing, and rented condominiums that are excluded from 
the current data collection. To reduce the respondent burden of monthly 
data collection, we will decrease by 20% the number of improvement 
queries on the monthly form. For example, siding work done as an 
``alteration'' and siding work done as a ``major replacement'' are now 
combined into one siding improvement. Also, we have removed one 
question from the form, ``When was this building or complex originally 
built?'
    The Census Bureau uses the information collected on the SORAR-705 
form to publish improvement and repair expenditures for rental and 
vacant residential properties. Data on improvements and repairs to 
owner-occupied properties are collected in the Consumer Expenditure 
Survey. Combined published estimates are used by a variety of private 
businesses and trade associations for marketing studies, economic 
forecasts and assessments of the construction industry. They also 
provide all levels of Government with a tool to evaluate economic 
policy and measure progress toward established goals. For example, the 
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) uses the Census Bureau's improvement 
statistics to develop the residential structures component of the gross 
private domestic investment in the national income and product 
accounts.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-
profit; State, local or Tribal government.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Section 182.
    OMB Desk Officer: Susan Schechter, (202) 395-5103.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, room 6625, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Susan Schechter, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) or e-
mail ([email protected]).

    Dated: July 29, 2003.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-19656 Filed 8-1-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P