[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 24 (Monday, February 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8580-8581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02565]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Generic Clearance for Emergency Economic Information 
Collections

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Information Collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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 minimizes the public's reporting burden. 
The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on 
the proposed new information collection, Generic Clearance for 
Emergency Economic Information Collections, prior to the submission of 
the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before April 9, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
email to [email protected]. Please reference Generic Clearance 
for Emergency Economic Information Collections in the subject line of 
your comments. You may also submit comments, identified by Docket 
Number USBC-2021-0003, to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. All comments received are part of the public 
record. No comments will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov for 
public viewing until after the comment period has closed. Comments will 
generally be posted without change. All Personally Identifiable 
Information (for example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by 
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential 
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. 
You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, 
Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Lisa Donaldson, Chief, Economic Management Division, (301)763-7296, 
and [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The U.S. Census Bureau plans to request Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) approval for a 3-year period, for a new Generic 
Information Collection that provides the quick turn-around necessary 
for conducting emergency economic information collections (EEIC) in 
response to unanticipated international, national or regional 
emergencies having a significant economic impact on businesses and/or 
state or local governments. The purpose of the collections will be to 
gauge and monitor the economic impact of such events on U.S. businesses 
and organizations.
    The Coronavirus pandemic, in addition to having devastating effects 
on the health and wellbeing of the global population, has had a 
profound effect on the world economy. The Census Bureau, in carrying 
out its mission to serve as the nation's leading provider of quality 
data about its people and economy, has sought to measure the effect on 
U.S. businesses through supplemental questions added to several of its 
recurring business surveys and a new survey meant to measure the effect 
of the pandemic on businesses. Due to the need to collect data on a 
timely basis, the Census Bureau submitted these requests to the Office 
of

[[Page 8581]]

Management and Budget under the emergency processing provisions of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). Although that process allowed us to 
implement the collections in a timely manner, information collections 
cleared under the emergency processing provisions of the PRA are 
limited to a 6-month clearance period. This hampered our efforts to 
collect data on an ongoing basis as the Pandemic continued throughout 
2020 and beyond. We believe that a generic clearance will benefit the 
Census Bureau, the reporting public, and the many stakeholders who will 
have great need for information during times of future unanticipated 
events.
    Procedurally, the generic clearance will operate in the following 
manner: The Census Bureau will first obtain OMB clearance under the 
regular processing provisions of the PRA for the initial generic 
clearance. The clearance request will define the scope and overall 
burden of information collections to be conducted under the generic 
clearance. As future triggering emergencies arise, the Census Bureau 
will submit quick turnaround requests to OMB which will document the 
circumstances requiring the EEIC and will include the specific 
question(s) to be asked. The questions will be chosen from a pretested 
bank of questions. The question bank will be submitted to OMB for 
approval along with the initial generic clearance request. The Census 
Bureau will ask that OMB review and act on requests for individual 
EEIC's within 72 hours. Information collections conducted under the 
generic clearance will last a maximum of 6 months. A new quick 
turnaround request may be submitted under the generic clearance if the 
Census Bureau determines the need to continue the collection past 6 
months.
    Events that could trigger the need for an EEIC may have global, 
national, or regional impact and may include:

--Pandemic or other health emergency
--Natural or manmade disaster
--New legislation
--Economic crisis

    As mentioned above, the Census Bureau is developing and cognitively 
testing a question bank it will utilize to create EEICs. The question 
bank may, for some subjects, include specific questionnaire content. In 
other cases, the bank may include topics which will then be addressed 
with questions developed to meet data needs that arise during a future 
unknown event.
    As data collections will be tailored to the emergency, users of the 
data may vary, but may include: Federal, state, or local officials 
charged with decision-making during the emergency; business leaders and 
policymakers wishing to develop plans to ameliorate the effects of the 
emergency; academics and members of the press wishing to study and 
disseminate information about the emergency; and the public. The data 
collected would help us understand how and why data we collect in our 
ongoing surveys may be affected by the emergency, as well as allow us 
to disseminate data as part of existing releases, new releases, or 
experimental releases.

II. Method of Collection

    EEIC questions may be included as supplemental questions on 
existing Census Bureau surveys or conducted as new surveys. The data 
will be collected by paper or electronic instruments, depending on the 
survey or program.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Regular submission, Regular Submission, New 
Information Collection Request.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 300,000.
    Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 50,000.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0 (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: EEIC questions appearing on a voluntary 
collection would be voluntary. EEIC questions appearing on a mandatory 
collection would be mandatory. When an EEIC is conducted as a new 
survey, that survey will be voluntary.
    Legal Authority: EEIC collections are authorized under Title 13 
U.S.C., Sections 131, 161, 182, and 196.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our 
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, 
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-02565 Filed 2-5-21; 8:45 am]
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