[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 113 (Thursday, June 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33721-33722]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-13671]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit 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: SSA Supplement on Retirement, Pensions, and Related Content.
    OMB Control Number: None.
    Form Number(s): SIPP-SSA(L1)2014.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Number of Respondents: 73,500.
    Average Hours per Response: 30 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 36,750.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the SSA Supplement 
on Retirement, Pensions, and Related Content (SSA Supplement) for the 
Social Security Administration (SSA). The Census Bureau and the SSA 
entered into an Interagency Agreement (IAA) in May 2010 that states the 
Census Bureau will conduct for the SSA a survey to collect data on 
retirement, pensions, marital history, and disabilities as a supplement 
to the 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Panel, 
and process the data. That original agreement was renewed each year by 
IAA modifications from 2011 to 2014.
    The data topics included in the SSA Supplement were previously 
collected in topical modules in the former SIPP Panels. These data were 
excluded from the 2014 SIPP data collection design as they were not 
required in each wave of data collection, and their elimination from 
the core interview reduced recurring respondent burden during the 
revised annual SIPP interview. To continue to have data for 
incorporation into their programmatic evaluations, the SSA has 
requested that the Census Bureau conduct the SSA Supplement beginning 
in September 2014. SSA specifically requested that the interview 
follow-up interviewed Wave 1 SIPP respondents, necessitating it's 
fielding after the completion of the 2014 SIPP Wave 1 interview. This 
differs from the topical module concept in previous SIPP panels where 
the topical modules were administered in conjunction with the core SIPP 
interview. The SSA Supplement will be conducted about 4 months 
following the completion of the 2014 SIPP Panel Wave 1 data collection. 
The time from the 2014 SIPP Wave 1 interview to the SSA Supplement 
interview may be as long as 8 months or as short as 4 months. The SSA 
Supplement is designed to occur only once during the 2014 SIPP Panel.
    The main objective of the SSA Supplement is to provide the SSA with 
detailed information about personal retirement plans (e.g., Individual 
Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Keogh accounts, 401k, 403b, 503b, and 
thrift plans); participation in pension and retirement plans provided 
by an employer or business; current and previous marital status; self-
designation of health status; work disability; and adult and child 
disability. These data are collected from SIPP interviewed Wave 1 
respondents, and along with data collected in the 2014 Panel SIPP 
interviews, will allow the SSA to create a picture of the economic and 
social situation of people with disabilities and/or those in or 
approaching retirement. The SSA also needs to estimate those legally 
eligible for Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) divorce 
benefits, that is, 120 months of marriage before divorce to an entitled 
worker. This information assists the SSA in making informed decisions 
about policies and programs that will affect older and/or disabled 
Americans.
    The SSA bases two of its major policy micro-simulations on the 
SIPP: (1) Modeling Income in the Near Term (MINT) for evaluating Social 
Security reform; and, (2) the Financial Eligibility Model (FEM) for 
evaluating Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Qualified Medicare 
Beneficiary, and Medicare Part-D Low Income Subsidy (LIS) programs.
    MINT projects the economic and demographic condition of older 
Americans based on data developed by SSA and the Census Bureau. MINT is 
continually updated using data from current SIPP panels. SSA uses MINT 
to simulate the impact of legislative changes to OASDI. The MINT 
estimates are relied upon by the Office of Management and Budget, the 
Council of Economic Advisors, the Congress, the Governmental 
Accountability Office, and the SSA. MINT is also used to estimate 
economic well-being indicators of older Americans in future years. Of 
specific importance to the SSA is the impact of the legislative changes 
on the economic well-being of future beneficiaries. The SSA also 
assesses people's ability to save for retirement (including the 
behavior of people putting money into and taking money out of 
retirement accounts), marital histories of the population, and 
eligibility for OASDI survivor and retirement benefits.
    The FEM assists policy makers in evaluating the effectiveness of 
the SSI program. Information from SIPP is matched to SSA administrative 
data to model SSI eligibility and participation and to study 
eligibility for Medicare buy-in programs and the LIS under Medicare 
Part-D. Information on disability and work limitations are used to 
estimate whether an individual meets the disability criteria for SSI 
eligibility and if the criteria need to be modified.
    Since the 1996 SIPP panel, the SSA has used data collected by the 
SIPP for policy evaluation research and the modification of government 
programs. Prior to the 2014 SIPP redesign, the data came from core 
questions asked each Wave and from intermittent topical supplements. As 
part of an effort to streamline the annual data collection in the SIPP 
instrument, the redesigned SIPP does not include some topical data 
previously used by the SSA for the MINT and FEM models.

[[Page 33722]]

    The data collected in the Supplement will allow the SSA to do a 
comparative analysis of the effect of the economic downturn and make 
adjustments to their MINT and FEM models if substantial differences in 
the data are identified. The SSA cannot obtain these data from any 
other source.
    The SSA Supplement is the first externally sponsored survey to take 
advantage of the opportunity to integrate with the new SIPP annual 
interviewing design. The value of integrating the SSA Supplement 
content with the longitudinal SIPP data collection is a benefit to both 
programs. The SSA Supplement data will be matchable to SIPP respondents 
and will be released as public use data. The details about the 
population's savings behavior and their disability status coupled with 
four-year longitudinal data for the population will be an important 
resource extending the utility of both data collections and will 
support stakeholders beyond the limits of the partner agencies. The 
power of the new SIPP program to support interagency projects like this 
is an important feature in the SIPP program's redesign.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

    Legal Authority: The SSA Supplement is authorized by Title 13, 
United States Code, Section 8(b) and by Section 1110 [42 U.S.C. 
1310] (a)(1) of the Social Security Act.

    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

    Dated: June 6, 2014.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-13671 Filed 6-11-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P