Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units

<RULE> OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET <CFR>5 CFR Part 1321</CFR> <RIN>RIN 0348-AB81</RIN> <SUBJECT>Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive Office of the President. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> Public trust in Federal statistics is essential to their value and use in informing decisions across public and private sectors. To promote public trust in the statistical agencies and units that produce Federal statistics, the Office of Management and Budget issues this final rule pursuant to Title III of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) to provide direction to Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units (RSAUs) in carrying out their four fundamental responsibilities: produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information, conduct credible and accurate statistical activities, conduct objective statistical activities, and protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses. This final rule also provides direction to other Federal agencies to enable, support, and facilitate RSAUs in carrying out these four fundamental responsibilities. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective date:</E> December 10, 2024. <E T="03">Applicability date:</E> This final rule is applicable December 10, 2024. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Kerrie Leslie, 202-395-5898, <E T="03">TrustRegulation@omb.eop.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) became law on January 14, 2019. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> The Evidence Act seeks to “advance[ ] the evidence building functions in the Federal Government by improving access to data and expanding evaluation capacity.”  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> Part of advancing evidence-building functions is enhancing the foundation for generating high quality evidence, including improving the ability of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units (RSAUs) to produce relevant, timely, credible, accurate, and objective statistical information. Title III of the Evidence Act (known as the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018, or CIPSEA 2018) updated and enhanced the original Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (known as CIPSEA 2002)  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> by, among other things, codifying the four fundamental responsibilities of RSAUs and requiring other Federal agencies to enable, support, and facilitate RSAUs in upholding these responsibilities. The four fundamental responsibilities are as follows:  <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Public Law 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529 (2019), <E T="03">available at https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2017, H.R. Rep. No. 115-411, at 1-2 (2017), <E T="03">available at https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/115th-congress/house-report/411.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347, title V, 116 Stat. 2962. The E-Government Act of 2002 as codified and amended at 44 U.S.C. 3561-3576 by CIPSEA 2018 is also known generically as “CIPSEA.” </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1). </FTNT> (1) produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information; (2) conduct credible and accurate statistical activities; (3) conduct objective statistical activities; and (4) protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses. In August 2023, OMB issued a proposed rule that would provide direction to agencies in carrying out these responsibilities. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> After considering comments on the proposed rule, OMB issues this final rule to be codified at 5 CFR part 1321, which sets forth requirements for RSAUs to carry out their fundamental responsibilities and for agencies to enable, support, and facilitate RSAUs in carrying out their fundamental responsibilities. <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the President, Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, 88 FR 56708 (Aug. 18, 2023), <E T="03">available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-08-18/pdf/2023-17664.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Statutory Authority</HD> Pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 3563(c) and the general authority in 44 U.S.C. 3562(a) to promulgate rules to ensure consistent interpretation by Federal agencies of the requirements of CIPSEA 2018, OMB finalizes this rule to provide direction to agencies in carrying out the responsibilities described in section 3563. Section 3563 describes the fundamental responsibilities that RSAUs must adhere to and charges all Federal agencies with enabling, supporting, and facilitating RSAUs in meeting these responsibilities. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Brief History of the U.S. Federal Statistical System and Related Authorities</HD> Federal statistics have informed decision making in the United States since its founding. The first constitutionally mandated census of population was in 1790. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> The 1790 Census planted the seeds for what is referred to today as the Federal statistical system. Over the 19th century, the system continued to blossom into a specialized and decentralized yet interconnected network of agencies, units, programs, and officials across the Government addressing emerging information demands of the Nation, including in the fields of tax, agriculture, education, and labor. The 20th Century presented new policy needs leading to further expansion of the Federal statistical system to include the fields of commerce, public health, energy, justice, transportation, and more. More than two decades into the 21st century, the Federal statistical system continues to provide the gold-standard for impartial, trusted Federal statistics foundational to informing decisions across the public and private sectors. Increasingly, collaboration is required across the Federal statistical system to unlock greater efficiencies and leverage diverse expertise. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>  Carroll Wright, Comm'r of Labor, <E T="03">The History and Growth of the United States Census,</E> S. Doc. No. 194, at 12-14 (1900), <E T="03">available at https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/wright-hunt.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>  For example, recent collaborations have expanded the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers program and launched the Standard Application Process portal. </FTNT> <E T="03">The Federal Statistical System.</E> The Federal statistical system collects and transforms data into useful, objective information and makes it readily and equitably available to data users, while protecting the responses of individual data providers. Federal, State, local, territorial, and Tribal governments; businesses; and the public all trust this information to be credible and reliable and use it to make informed decisions. The Federal statistical system includes the following entities and officials: • <E T="03">Office of the Chief Statistician of the United States.</E> Led by the Chief Statistician of the United States, the Office of the Chief Statistician of the United States at OMB has the statutory authority to coordinate the Federal statistical system to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness, as well as the integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information collected for statistical purposes. <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> The office accomplishes this by promulgating rules, developing and maintaining statistical policies and standards, identifying priorities for improving statistical programs, assessing statistical agency budgets, reviewing and approving collections of information from RSAUs, and coordinating U.S. participation in international statistical activities, among other functions. <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>  44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7). </FTNT> • <E T="03">Sixteen RSAUs.</E> OMB currently recognizes 16 statistical agencies and units under CIPSEA (See Table 1). <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> OMB-recognized agencies or units are organizational units of the Executive Branch whose activities are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes, <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> covering topics such as the economy, workforce, energy, agriculture, foreign trade, education, housing, crime, transportation, and health. <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 44 U.S.C. 3562(a) (providing OMB the authority to recognize statistical agencies and units). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>  44 U.S.C. 3561(12) (“The term `Statistical purpose' (A) means the description, estimation, or analysis of the characteristics of groups, without identifying the individuals or organizations that comprise such groups; and (B) includes the development, implementation, or maintenance of methods, technical or administrative procedures, or information resources that support the purposes described in [(A)].”). </FTNT> • <E T="03">Approximately 100 other statistical programs.</E> <SU>11</SU> <FTREF/> These other Federal statistical programs produce and disseminate statistics in support of other mission areas and conduct a variety of evidence-building functions, including program evaluation, scientific research, data collection, policy ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 217k characters. 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