[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8016-8017]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02200]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Notice, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, without 
revision, the Survey of Consumer Finances (FR 3059; OMB 7100-0287).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 5, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 3059, by any of 
the following methods:
     Agency Website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     Email: [email protected]. Include the OMB 
number in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.
     Mail: Ann E. Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20551.
    All public comments are available from the Board's website at 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as 
submitted, unless modified for technical reasons or to remove 
personally identifiable information at the commenter's request. 
Accordingly, comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or 
contact information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically 
or in paper in Room 146, 1709 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006, 
between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. For security reasons, the 
Board requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. 
You may do so by calling (202) 452-3684. Upon arrival, visitors will be 
required to present valid government-issued photo identification and to 
submit to security screening in order to inspect and photocopy 
comments.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

[[Page 8017]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Federal Reserve Board Clearance 
Officer--Nuha Elmaghrabi--Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551, (202) 
452-3829.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1984, OMB delegated to the Board 
authority under the PRA to approve and assign OMB control numbers to 
collections of information conducted or sponsored by the Board. In 
exercising this delegated authority, the Board is directed to take 
every reasonable step to solicit comment. In determining whether to 
approve a collection of information, the Board will consider all 
comments received from the public and other agencies.
    A copy of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) OMB submission, 
including the reporting form and instructions, supporting statement, 
and other documentation will be available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, if approved. These documents will also be made 
available on the Board's public website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested 
from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears above.

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    The Board invites public comment on the following information 
collection, which is being reviewed under authority delegated by the 
OMB under the PRA. Comments are invited on the following:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Board's functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Board's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    c. Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    d. Ways to minimize the burden of information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    e. Estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations 
received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the Board 
should modify the proposal.

Proposal Under OMB Delegated Authority To Extend for Three Years, 
Without Revision, the Following Information Collection

    Report title: Survey of Consumer Finances.
    Agency form number: FR 3059.
    OMB control number: 7100-0287.
    Frequency: Triennial.
    Respondents: U.S. families.
    Estimated number of respondents: Pretest, 150; Main survey, 7,000.
    Estimated average hours per response: Pretest, 100 minutes; Main 
survey, 100 minutes.
    Estimated annual burden hours: Pretest, 250 hours; Main survey, 
11,667 hours.
    General description of report: This triennial survey is the only 
source of representative information on the structure of U.S. families' 
finances. The survey would collect data on the assets, debts, income, 
work history, pension rights, use of financial services, and attitudes 
of a sample of U.S. families. Because the ownership of some assets is 
relatively concentrated in a small number of families, the survey would 
make a special effort to ensure proper representation of such assets by 
systematically oversampling wealthier families.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: Section 2A of the Federal 
Reserve Act (FRA) requires that the Board and the Federal Open Market 
Committee (FOMC) maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit 
aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to 
increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum 
employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.\1\ In 
addition, under section 12A of the FRA, the FOMC is required to 
implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted 
by Federal Reserve Banks ``with a view to accommodating commerce and 
business and with regard to their bearing upon the general credit 
situation of the country.'' \2\ The Board and the FOMC use the 
information obtained from the FR 3059 to help fulfill these 
obligations. The FR 3059 is a voluntary survey.
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    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 225a.
    \2\ 12 U.S.C. 263.
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    Consultation outside the agency: The final survey questionnaire 
would be developed jointly by the Board and the contractor. The 
contractor would conduct the computer based interviews for this survey. 
The data to support the part of the survey sample selected by the Board 
would be provided by the Statistics of Income Division (SOI) of the 
Internal Revenue Service under a contract that allows this use of the 
data as well as other more limited uses of the data for statistical 
adjustments to the final data and related purposes. As in past surveys, 
the sample selection and survey administration would be managed so that 
the Board would not be given any names of survey participants; SOI 
would not be given data to link survey responses with tax records; and 
the contractor would not be given income data derived from the tax 
returns.
    It is expected that the data collected would be published in 
summary form in the Federal Reserve Bulletin in 2023. A version of the 
microdata, which would be altered to protect the identity of individual 
respondents, would be made available to the public through the Board's 
public website. None of the pretest data would be released to the 
public. The information collected on the FR 3059 that identifies the 
individual respondents may be exempt from disclosure under exemption 6 
of the Freedom of Information Act, which protects information the 
disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of 
personal privacy.\3\
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    \3\ 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6).

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 28, 
2021.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2021-02200 Filed 2-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P