FR1401_20220329_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Application Form for Membership on the Community Advisory Council
(FR 1401; OMB 7100-0371)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under authority
delegated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has extended for three years,
without revision, the Application Form for Membership on the Community Advisory Council
(Application) (FR 1401; OMB 7100-0371). The Application is used to obtain information about
the experience and qualification of persons seeking to be considered for membership on the
Community Advisory Council of the Board (CAC). The Application collects an applicant’s
contact information; details regarding current employment and areas of expertise; a resume,
which typically includes information about employment history, education, and training; and a
cover letter explaining why the applicant is interested in serving on the CAC and what he or she
believes are their primary qualifications. Applicants can voluntarily elect to provide additional
information to support their application.
The estimated total annual burden for the FR 1401 is 300 hours. The Application is
available on the Board’s public website at
https://www.federalreserve.gov/secure/CAC/Application/.
Background and Justification
In January 2015, the Board established the CAC as an advisory committee to the Board
on issues affecting consumers and communities. The CAC is composed of a diverse group of
experts and representatives of consumer and community development organizations and
interests, including from such fields as affordable housing, community and economic
development, employment and labor, financial services and technology, small business, and asset
and wealth building. CAC members meet semiannually with members of the Board in
Washington, DC to provide a range of perspectives on the economic circumstances and financial
services needs of consumers and communities, with a particular focus on the concerns of low and moderate-income consumers and communities.
The CAC complements the Board’s other advisory councils – the Community Depository
Institutions Advisory Council and the Federal Advisory Council – whose members represent
depository institutions. The CAC serves as a mechanism to gather feedback and perspectives on
a wide range of policy matters and emerging issues of interest to the Board and aligns with the
Board’s mission and current responsibilities. These responsibilities include, but are not limited
to, banking supervision and regulatory compliance (including the enforcement of consumer
protection laws), systemic risk oversight and monetary policy decision -making, and, in
conjunction with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, responsibility for implementation of the Community Reinvestment Act.

Description of Information Collection
The Application collects the name, postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address
of the applicants, and asks the applicant to identify the subject areas in which the applicant
considers himself or herself to have expertise. In addition, applicants are asked to identify the
organization where they currently work, to provide their title, and to identify the type of
organization where they work. Lastly, applicants are asked to submit a resume and a cover letter
explaining why they are interested in serving on the CAC and what they b elieve are their primary
qualifications. Applicants may, at their option, submit any other information they choose.
Respondent Panel
The FR 1401 panel comprises any person seeking to be considered for membership on
the CAC.
Time Schedule for Information Collection
The Federal Reserve issues a press release and publishes a Federal Register notice
annually announcing when it is accepting applications for membership. The Federal Register
notice specifies the deadline for submitting applications, which typically is 60 days after
publication in the Federal Register. The information required on the Application may be
submitted using the Board’s secure online application form
(https://www.federalreserve.gov/secure/CAC/Application/), by e-mail ([email protected]), or
by postal mail to the address listed in the Federal Register notice.
Public Availability of Data
Information about the CAC is available on the Board’s public website at
https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/cac.htm.
Legal Status
The Application is authorized pursuant to sections 2A and 10 of the Federal Reserve Act
(FRA). Section 2A of the FRA requires the Board and Federal Open Market Committee to
maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the
economy’s long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of
maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates (12 U.S.C. § 225a).
Section 10 of the FRA authorizes the Board to “determine and prescribe the manner in which its
obligations shall be incurred and its disbursements and expenses allowed and paid” (12 U.S.C. §
244).1 Providing information collected as part of the Application is required to obtain a benefit.
Generally, information provided on the Application will be kept confidential from the
public under exemption 6 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the extent that the
disclosure of the information “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
1

This authority permits the Board to collect personal information (e.g., bank account routing numbers) needed to
disburse travel funds to CAC members.

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privacy” (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)). For example, the release of information such as the applicant’s
address, home telephone number, or personal e-mail address to the public would likely constitute
a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and be kept confidential. However, the
release of information such as the educational and professional qualifications of successful
applicants would not likely constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and
may be disclosed under the FOIA. In addition, once a person becomes a member of the CAC,
their name, and the name and location of the organization where they are employed, would
generally be listed on the Board’s public website.
Consultation Outside the Agency
There has been no consultation outside the Federal Reserve System.
Public Comments
On October 5, 2021, the Board published an initial notice in the Federal Register (86 FR
54977) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, without revision, of the
FR 1401. The comment period for this notice expired on December 6, 2021. The Board did not
receive any comments. The Board adopted the extension, without revision, of the FR 1401 as
originally proposed. On February 17, 2022, the Board published a final notice in the Federal
Register (87 FR 9055).
Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the FR 1401 is 300
hours. The estimated number of respondents is based on the average number of applicants that
submitted an application to be considered for CAC membership in response to the Federal
Register notices published from 2019 through 2020. These reporting requirements represent less
than 1 percent of the Board’s total paperwork burden.

FR 1401
Current

Estimated
number of
respondents
300

Estimated
Estimated
Annual
average hours annual burden
frequency
per response
hours
1
1
300

The estimated total annual cost to the public for the FR 1401 is $8,100.2
Sensitive Questions
Individuals submit resumes, cover letters, and other information, as described in the
Description of Information Collection section, when they choose to apply to be a member of
CAC. This information they provide is not particularly sensitive in nature and is necessary in
order to select the membership of the CAC. Information collected as part of the application
2

The average consumer cost of $27 is estimated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational
Employment and Wages, May 2020, published March 31, 2021, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm.

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process is stored in in the system of records BGFRS-39 FRB General File of the Community
Advisory Council3 and it is also accounted for by the Privacy Impact Assessment of the
Community Advisory Council Systems. 4
However, once selected, CAC member information will contain sensitive non-public
information, such as the IPAC member’s bank account routing information and other identifying
information, which facilitates payment of travel expenses and honoraria. This sensitive
information is stored in in the system of records BGFRS-9 FRB Supplier Files5 and is also
accounted for by the Privacy Impact Assessment of Oracle Financials. 6
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing the
Application is negligible.

3

https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-39-general-file-of-the-community-advisory-council.pdf
https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/pia_cac_wns.pdf
5
https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-9-supplier-files.pdf
6
https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/PIA_Oracle_Financials.pdf
4

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