[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 116 (Friday, June 14, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50563-50564]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13164]



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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; Collection of State/Local Administrative Records and Third-
Party Data

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite 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 requested via the 
Federal Register on March 8, 2024 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: Collection of State/Local Administrative Records and Third-
Party Data.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, New Information Collection 
Request.
    Number of Respondents: 80.
    Average Hours per Response: 75.
    Burden Hours: 6,000.
    Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau uses state and local 
administrative records data linked with other survey and census 
records, including but not limited to, data from the Survey of Income 
and Program Participation (SIPP), the Current Population Survey (CPS) 
and the American Community Survey (ACS) to conduct research and improve 
operations.
    The Census Bureau encourages the District of Columbia, all 50 
states, and local municipalities to share administrative records data 
generally associated with, but not limited to: nutrition and food 
assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for 
Women, Infants and Children (WIC); and welfare programs, including 
child care subsidy; household self-sufficiency programs, including low 
income energy assistance programs and Temporary Assistance for Needy 
Families (TANF).
    Data sharing and analysis of linked files are solely for 
statistical purposes, not for program enforcement. All administrative 
records data are and will remain confidential under Title 13, United 
States Code (U.S.C.), Section 9, whether in their original form or when 
comingled or linked.
    The Census Bureau will use data from businesses for research, 
censuses, and surveys operations. This data will be collected from 
businesses through agreements or contracts. Third-party targeted 
entities for this acquisition will include cross sector industries such 
as manufacturing, information services, healthcare, supply chain, and 
retail.
    The U.S. Census Bureau efforts to collect these data include 
integrating and linking the data with Census Bureau data from current 
surveys and censuses to improve efficiency and accuracy of Census data 
collections, including 2030 Census Operations, and improve measures of 
the population and economy. In 2030, administrative records and third-
party data could potentially be used to enhance non-ID address 
processing, imputation, in-office enumeration, contact strategies, and 
post-processing.
    The Census Bureau benefits from these efforts by improving data 
quality, survey frames, developing model-based edits and allocations, 
and studies of program participation and data quality over time. 
Collaborating agencies have benefited through access to reports and 
tabulations to enhance information about participation in assistance 
programs.
    The Census Bureau is obligated by law to use existing information 
that has already been collected by other government agencies, whenever 
possible, instead of asking for such information directly from the 
public, provided that the existing information is consistent with the 
kind, timeliness, scope, and quality of the statistics that the Census 
Bureau is authorized to produce.
    The authority for the Census Bureau to acquire state administrative 
records data on nutrition assistance is 13 U.S.C. 6. Additionally, the 
state agencies may provide SNAP and Special Supplemental Nutrition 
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) data to the Census 
Bureau under 7 U.S.C. 2026 and 42 U.S.C. 1786 and implementing 
regulations at 7 CFR part 246, respectively. Further, state agencies 
may provide TANF data to the Census Bureau under the Public Health and 
Welfare Act, 42 U.S.C. 613 and Section 1137 of the Social Security Act, 
42 U.S.C. 1320b-7.
    The primary uses include:

 Improve survey coverage
 Evaluate, edit, and analyze census and survey data
 Conduct new policy-relevant cross-sectional and longitudinal 
analyses
 Create new lower-cost data products without incurring 
additional respondent burden

    The Census Bureau will link administrative records and third-party 
data with data from censuses and surveys at the Census Bureau, 
including but not limited to data from the SIPP, CPS, ACS, and economic 
programs.
    Linking records across programs, across states, or over time is 
accomplished using a unique linkage identifier called a Protected 
Identification Key (PIK). Processing to assign a PIK to each person 
record involves matching based on combinations of name, address, sex, 
date of birth, and Social Security Number (SSN) data, as available. For 
example, the Census Bureau requests the following data elements from 
the state agencies:
    a. Case unit identifiers,
    b. Active Participant definitions,
    c. Complete monthly case unit address history (residence, mailing),
    d. Benefit month,
    e. Monthly Benefits data (any of the available: benefits received 
date, benefits amount issued/received, and benefit amount redeemed),
    f. Income reporting requirement (simplified reporting, change 
reporting, etc.),
    g. Gross income (monthly),
    h. Net income (monthly),
    i. Eligibility and denial information,
    j. Household size,
    k. Identifiers for individuals in case units, and
    l. The following information on individuals in a case unit:

i. Name
ii. Social Security Number
iii. Case unit/main contact phone number
iv. Unique individual identifier
v. Benefit month
vi. Case unit identifier
vii. Program data type
viii. Active participant definitions
ix. Relationship to primary recipient
x. History of membership in case unit
xi. Race
xii. Hispanic origin/Ethnicity
xiii. Sex
xiv. Date of birth
xv. Gross income (monthly)
xvi. Net income (monthly)
xvii. Monthly income source (earnings, TANF, SSI, SSA, UI, general 
assistance, other)
xviii. Education

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xix. Employment

    The Census Bureau will use nutrition assistance data to improve 
surveys and census authorized by Title 13 of the U.S.C. The Census 
Bureau will evaluate the quality of the linked data to: improve 
efficiency and accuracy in our data collections; improve measures of 
population and economy; evaluate and improve data linking software and 
techniques; improve data quality and estimates; improve Census Bureau 
household survey coverage and gain a greater understanding of data 
quality collected in Census Bureau household surveys on program 
participation, household composition and income; and provide a basis 
for improving Census Bureau demographic and economic survey program 
participation questions.
    The Census Bureau may provide tabulated data to the participating 
agencies that may use these tabulations for research related to and 
evaluation of state programs, such as rates of enrollment in and 
demographic characteristics of participants in state assistance 
programs.
    Data sharing and analysis of linked files are solely for 
statistical purposes, not for program enforcement or the determination 
of individual benefits. All administrative records and third-party data 
are and will remain confidential, whether in their original form or 
when comingled or linked.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: 13 U.S.C. 6.
    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 the title of the collection.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-13164 Filed 6-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P