[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 55 (Thursday, March 23, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14869-14870]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05774]


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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: Survey of Construction, Questionnaire for the Building 
Permit Official.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0125.
    Form Number(s): SOC-QBPO.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: 1,017.
    Average Hours per Response: 15 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 254.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau is requesting a revision of 
the currently approved collection for the Survey of Construction 
Questionnaire

[[Page 14870]]

for the Building Permit Official (SOC-QBPO). The information collected 
on the SOC-QBPO is necessary to carry out the sampling for the Survey 
of Housing Starts, Sales and Completions (OMB number 0607-0110), also 
known as the Survey of Construction (SOC). Government agencies and 
private companies use statistics from the SOC to monitor and evaluate 
the large and dynamic housing construction industry.
    The SOC-QBPO is an electronic questionnaire. The field 
representatives (FRs) either call or visit the respondents to enter 
their survey responses into a laptop computer using the Computer 
Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software formatted for the SOC-
QBPO. We will continue to use the current CAPI questionnaire with 
modifications to the form for the purpose of improving the process of 
accurately classifying permitted units and to eliminate the collection 
of information deemed no longer necessary for the proper sample 
selection for the SOC. The overall length of the interview will not 
change. The sample size slightly increased due to the increase in total 
number of permit-issuing jurisdictions.
    The Census Bureau FRs use the SOC-QBPO to obtain information on the 
operating procedures of a permit office. This enables them to locate, 
classify, list, and sample building permits for residential 
construction. These permits are used as the basis for the sample 
selected for SOC. The Census Bureau also uses the information to verify 
and update the geographic coverage of permit offices.
    Failure to collect this information would make it difficult, if not 
impossible, to accurately classify and sample building permits for the 
SOC. Data for two principal economic indicators are produced from the 
SOC: New Residential Construction (housing starts and housing 
completions) and New Residential Sales. Government agencies use these 
statistics to evaluate economic policy, measure progress towards the 
national housing goal, make policy decisions, and formulate 
legislation. For example, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System uses data from this survey to evaluate the effect of interest 
rates in this interest-rate sensitive area of the economy. The Bureau 
of Economic Analysis (BEA) uses the data in developing the Gross 
Domestic Product (GDP). The private sector and other data users from 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National 
Association of Home Builders (NAHB) use the information for estimating 
the demand for housing, building materials and the many products used 
in new housing and to schedule production, distribution, and sales 
efforts. The financial community uses the data to estimate the demand 
for short-term (construction loans) and long-term (mortgages) 
borrowing.
    Affected Public: State, local, or Tribal government.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131 and 
182.
    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.

Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Departmental Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-05774 Filed 3-22-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P