NCS_2017MailDesignTest_AttachmentD_30 Day Federal Register Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 75 / Thursday, April 20, 2017 / Notices
Discussion of Testimony: Civil Rights
and Policing Practices in Minnesota
Public Comment
Future Plans and Actions
Adjournment
Dated: April 17, 2017.
David Mussatt,
Supervisory Chief, Regional Programs Unit.
[FR Doc. 2017–08019 Filed 4–19–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6335–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

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Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request; American
Community Survey Methods Panel
Tests, 2017 Mail Design Test
The Department of Commerce will
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: American Community Survey
Methods Panel Tests, 2017 Mail Design
Test.
OMB Control Number: 0607–0936.
Form Number(s): ACS–1, ACS CATI,
ACS CAPI, ACS Internet.
Type of Request: Non-substantive
Change Request.
Number of Respondents: 288,000.
Average Hours per Response: 40
minutes.
Burden Hours: No additional burden
hours are requested under this nonsubstantive change request.
Needs and Uses: The American
Community Survey (ACS) collects
detailed socioeconomic data from about
3.5 million housing units in the United
States and 36,000 in Puerto Rico each
year. The ACS also collects detailed
socioeconomic data from about 195,000
residents living in Group Quarter (GQ)
facilities. An ongoing data collection
effort with an annual sample of this
magnitude requires that the ACS
continue research, testing, and
evaluations aimed at reducing
respondent burden, improving data
quality, achieving survey cost
efficiencies, and improving ACS
questionnaire content and related data
collection materials. The ACS Methods
Panel is a research program that is
designed to address and respond to
issues and survey needs.
In the Census Bureau’s continuing
effort to reduce respondent burden and
address concerns about the perceived
intrusiveness of the ACS, the Census
Bureau seeks to test three candidate
changes to the current ACS mail

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materials. The three experimental
treatments are designed to increase
public awareness of the ACS through
new messaging and an updated look and
feel that increases respondent
engagement and self-response, while
softening the tone of the mandatory
requirement of the survey.
The Census Bureau previously tested
the impact of removing or modifying the
mandatory messages from the mail
materials (see Oliver, B., Risley, M., &
Roberts, A. (2016). 2015 Summer
Mandatory Messaging Test. Washington
DC, U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on
February 10, 2017 from https://
www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/
library/working-papers/2016/acs/2016_
Oliver_01.pdf). This proposed test is
aimed at building on that research and
improving the results based on
additional feedback the Census Bureau
obtained from the National Academies’
Committee on National Statistics (see
Plewes, T.J. (2016). ‘‘Reducing Response
Burden in the American Community
Survey.’’ Proceedings of a Workshop
conducted by the Committee on
National Statistics Division of
Behavioral and Social Sciences and
Education).
The three experimental treatments
are:
• The Softened Revised Design
treatment from the 2015 Summer
Mandatory Messaging Test.
• A Partial Redesign treatment that
maintains the same wording as used in
the Softened Revised Design treatment
but includes some methodological
changes: A ‘‘Why We Ask’’ brochure in
the initial mailing, changes to the cover
of the paper questionnaire, and the use
of a letter instead of a postcard for the
fifth mailing.
• A Full Redesign treatment that
includes the same methodological
changes as the Partial Redesign
treatment but also modifies the wording
in most of the mailings to a more
personal approach with plain language.
The purpose of this test is to study the
impact of these three candidate mail
designs on self-response, cost, and the
precision of the estimates. To field this
test, the Census Bureau plans to use the
ACS production sample (clearance
number: 0607–0810, expires 06/30/
2018). Thus, there is no increase in
burden from this test since each
treatment will result in the same burden
estimate per interview (40 minutes). The
ACS sample design consists of
randomly assigning each monthly
sample panel into 24 groups of
approximately 12,000 addresses each.
Each group, called a methods panel
group, within a monthly sample is
representative of the full monthly

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sample. Each monthly sample is a
representative subsample of the entire
annual sample and is representative of
the sampling frame.
The Census Bureau proposes to test
these mail designs as part of the ACS
August 2017 panel, adhering to the
same data collection protocols as
production ACS. The Census Bureau
proposes to use two randomly selected
methods panel groups for each
treatment. Hence, each treatment will
have a sample size of approximately
24,000 addresses. In total,
approximately 96,000 addresses will be
used for the three experimental
treatments and the control treatment
(current production). The current
production treatment will have the same
mail materials as the rest of production,
but will be sorted and mailed at the
same time as the other treatment
materials. The remaining sample will
receive production materials.
The Census Bureau proposes to
evaluate treatment comparisons by
comparing self-response rates at various
points in the mailing schedule and by
comparing the final response rates. The
Census Bureau proposes comparing
treatments at points in the mailing
schedule where the material differs by
design. For each comparison, a = 0.1
and a two-tailed test will be used so that
the Census Bureau can measure the
impact on the evaluation measure in
either direction with 80 percent power.
The effective samples were calculated
based on the previous year’s data for the
August panel. The sample size will be
able to detect differences of
approximately 1.25 percentage points
between the self-response return rates of
the control and experimental
treatments. Additional metrics of
interest include overall costs and
response rates by subgroups.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households.
Frequency: One-time test as part of
the monthly American Community
Survey.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United
States Code, Sections 141, 193, and 221.
This information collection request
may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view
Department of Commerce collections
currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 75 / Thursday, April 20, 2017 / Notices

notice to OIRA_Submission@
omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806.
Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Department Lead, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017–07951 Filed 4–19–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request; State & Local
Government Finance Collections
The Department of Commerce will
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: State & Local Government
Finance Collections.
OMB Control Number: 0607–0585.
Form Number(s): F–5, F–11, F–12, F–
13, F–28, F–29, F–32.
Type of Request: Revision of a
currently approved collection.
Number of Respondents: 26,447.
Average Hours per Response: 2 hours
and 51 minutes.
Burden Hours: 75,150.
Needs and Uses: The State & Local
Government Finance program is the
only known comprehensive source of
state and local government finance data
collected on a nationwide scale using
uniform definitions, concepts, and
procedures. The Census Bureau
implements this program through
conducting a full census every five years
(years ending in 2 and 7) and annual
sample surveys in the interim years. The
Census Bureau has conducted the
Census of Governments every five years
since 1957 and phased in the annual
surveys over the subsequent years.
Currently, we are requesting approval
to conduct the 2017 Census of
Governments: Finance component and
the 2018 and 2019 Annual Survey of
State Government Tax Collections,
Annual Survey of State Government
Finances, the Annual Survey of Local
Government Finances, and the Annual
Survey of Public Pensions. These
surveys collect data on state government
finances and estimates of local
government revenue, expenditure, debt,
assets, and pension systems nationally
and within state areas. Data are
collected for all agencies, departments,
and institutions of the fifty state and
approximate 77,000 local governments
(counties, municipalities, townships,
and special districts) during the census
years, and for a sample of the local

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governments (approximately 11,000) for
the survey years. An additional 13,000
units of school districts are covered in
a separate request.
Over the past several years, the
programs covered by this request have
moved towards eliminating collection
by paper form as much as possible. The
only exception to this is the F–13 form,
which is still sent as a paper form
because the small number of
respondents does not justify the cost of
converting it to an electronic form.
Below is a short description of each the
forms utilized in our general collection
methods:
F–5. State governments provide
detailed data on their tax collections
using a spreadsheet that they receive via
email. Much of this detail is not
available in the state’s primary source
document. An attachment is included
with the email providing the respondent
with the OMB approval number,
authority and confidentiality
statements, and burden estimate.
F–11 and F–12. State and local
government pension systems provide
data on their receipts, payments, assets,
membership, and beneficiaries. The
actuarial content of the F–11 and F–12
forms is in the process of being
reviewed to remove outdated questions
and replace them with questions that
are more relevant based on current
accounting standards and data user
interest. The current burden estimates of
2 hours for F–11 and 2.5 hours for F–
12 are not expected to change because
of these updates. These forms are
completed online via electronic
collection instrument.
F–13. State agencies provide data not
included in the audits, electronic files
and other primary sources the Census
Bureau uses to compile state
government financial data. Form F–13 is
used to collect data from state insurance
trust systems. Respondents to this
survey receive a paper form.
F–28. Counties, cities, and townships
provide data on revenues, expenditures,
debt, and assets. These forms are
completed online via electronic
collection instrument.
F–29. Multi-function special district
governments provide data on revenues,
expenditures, debt, and assets. These
forms are completed online via
electronic collection instrument.
F–32. Single-function special district
governments and dependent agencies of
local governments provide data on
revenues, expenditures, debt and assets.
These forms are completed online via
electronic collection instrument.
In addition to these more traditional
collection methods, the Census Bureau
also collects electronic data files

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through arrangements with state
governments, central collection
arrangements with local governments,
and using customized electronic
reporting instruments.
These data are widely used by
Federal, state, and local legislators,
policy makers, analysts, economists,
and researchers to follow the changing
characteristics of the government sector
of the economy. The data are also
widely used by the media and
academia.
More specifically, the Census Bureau
provides its state and local government
finance data annually to the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA) for use in
measuring and developing estimates of
the government sector of the economy
in the National Income and Product
Accounts. The Census Bureau also
provides these data to the Federal
Reserve Board for constructing the Flow
of Funds Accounts.
Additionally, the state and local
government data are also needed as
inputs into the Justice Expenditure and
Employment Extract Series, produced
by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and
the National Health Expenditure
Accounts produced by the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services. The
data are also published annually in the
Digest of Education Statistics produced
by National Center for Education
Statistics, the Economic Report of the
President produced by the Council of
Economic Advisors, and the source data
are used as input into the State and
Local Governments Fiscal Outlook
published by the Government
Accountability Office. In addition, the
data are used by the National Science
Foundation as inputs into the state
government R&D expenditures.
In recent years, state and local
government financial information has
garnered significant media attention and
policy coverage. As such, timely state
and local government finance data are
critical in light of current financial
conditions of state and local
governments, as they provide insight
into the complex nature and fiscal
health of state and local government
finances.
Beginning with the 1993 annual data
series, all data, summary tables, and
files have been released on the Internet.
At the Internet site, (census.gov/govs/)
users will find documentation,
summary tables and files.
Affected Public: State, local or Tribal
government.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C.,
Sections 161 and 182.

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