[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 138 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43237-43238]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-15465]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

U.S. Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Household Pulse Survey

    On May 25, 2022, the Department of Commerce received clearance from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 to conduct Phase 3.5 of the Household 
Pulse Survey (OMB No. 0607-1013, Exp. 10/31/23). The Household Pulse 
Survey was designed to meet a need for timely information associated 
with household experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department 
is committed to ensuring that the data collected by the Household Pulse 
Survey continue to meet information needs as they may evolve over the 
course of the pandemic. This notice serves to inform of the 
Department's intent to request clearance from OMB to make some 
revisions to the Household Pulse Survey questionnaire. To ensure that 
the data collected by the Household Pulse Survey continue to meet 
information needs as they evolve over the course of the pandemic, the 
Census Bureau submits this Request for Revision to an Existing 
Collection for a revised Phase 3.6 questionnaire.
    Phase 3.6 includes new questions on the ability to carry out day-
to-day activities due to experiencing long COVID, non-parental 
childcare arrangements and costs of childcare, changes in 
transportation behaviors due to cost of gas, a series of questions 
regarding access to infant formula, and inflation and changes in 
behavior due to increasing prices. Questions on K-12 enrollment and 
educational catch-up activities will be reinstated for Phase 3.6. There 
are also modifications to existing questions, including changing the 
reference period for the unemployment insurance items, adding Special 
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 
as a response option to the question that asks about how households 
meet spending needs, and replacing employment categories with the 
standard North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. 
Several questions will be removed for Phase 3.6, including questions on 
lack of access to childcare, use of public transportation and 
ridesharing, working or volunteering outside the home, receipt and use 
of the Child Tax Credit, post-secondary educational disruptions, and 
telehealth for adults and children.
    It is the Department's intention to commence data collection using 
the revised instrument on or about August 24, 2022. The Department 
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 minimize the 
public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously sought on 
the Household Pulse Survey via the Federal Register on May 19, 2020, 
June 3, 2020, February 1, 2021, April 13, 2021, June 24, 2021, October 
26, 2021, January 24, 2022, and April 18, 2022. This notice allows for 
an additional 30 days for public comments on the proposed revisions.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: Household Pulse Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1013.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Request for a Revision of a Currently Approved 
Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 235,200.
    Average Hours per Response: 20 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 77,616.
    Needs and Uses: Data produced by the Household Pulse Survey are 
designed to inform on a range of topics related to households' 
experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics to date have included 
employment, facility to telework, travel patterns, income loss, 
spending patterns, food and housing security, amount of monthly rent 
and changes in monthly rent, access to benefits, mental health and 
access to care, difficulty with self-care and communicating, intent to 
receive the COVID-19 vaccine/booster, timing of coronavirus testing, 
use of coronavirus treatments, the experience of long COVID, and post-
secondary educational disruption. The requested revision, if approved 
by OMB, will remove selected items from the questions for which utility 
has declined and add questions based on information needs expressed via 
public comment and in consult with other Federal agencies. The overall 
burden change to the public will be insignificant.
    The Household Pulse Survey was initially launched in April, 2020 as 
an experimental project (see https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products.html) under emergency clearance from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) initially granted April 19, 2020; regular 
clearance was subsequently sought and approved by OMB on October 30, 
2020 (OMB No. 0607-1013; Exp. 10/30/2023).
    Affected Public: Households.
    Frequency: Households will be selected once to participate in a 20-
minute survey.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 8(b), 182 
and 196.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and

[[Page 43238]]

entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 
0607-1013.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2022-15465 Filed 7-19-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P