[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 137 (Wednesday, July 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46138-46139]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15332]


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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; Household Pulse Survey

    On June 6, 2023, 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 3.9 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 3.10 questionnaire.
    Phase 3.10 includes split-panel tests of two versions of the gender 
identity question and the placement of the health items in the 
instrument. The Phase 3.10 instrument also includes the return of the 
original Hispanic origin, race/ethnicity, childcare arrangements, and 
children's mental health behaviors items, and new questions on military 
participation of a spouse, shortages of critical products, difficulty 
accessing medical care/treatment during natural disasters, and a 
question asking the respondent if they will opt-in to receive optional 
surveys and email updates from the Bureau. There are also modifications 
to existing children's vaccine booster, infant formula, reasons not 
working, unemployment insurance, natural disaster, and contact 
information items. Several questions will be removed for Phase 3.10, 
including questions about obtaining at home COVID tests, not working 
due to the pandemic or natural disaster, households affected by the 
infant formula shortage, type of formula used, and best contact method.
    It is the Department's intention to commence data collection using 
the revised instrument on or about August 23, 2023. 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, April 18, 2022, July 2, 2022, November 10, 
2022, and April 28, 2023. 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: 141,552.
    Average Hours per Response: 20 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 46,712.
    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, post-
secondary educational disruption, access to infant formula, the effects 
of increasing prices, natural disasters, school meals for children, and 
children's mental health treatment. 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

[[Page 46139]]

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 193.
    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 entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-1013.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-15332 Filed 7-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P