{ "id": "R41532", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R41532", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 436643, "date": "2014-12-19", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:47:22.508011", "title": "The American Community Survey: Development, Implementation, and Issues for Congress", "summary": "The American Community Survey (ACS), implemented nationwide in 2005 and 2006, is the U.S. Bureau of the Census\u2019s (Census Bureau\u2019s) replacement for the decennial census long form, which, from 1940 to 2000, gathered detailed socioeconomic and housing data from a representative population sample in conjunction with the once-a-decade count of all U.S. residents. Unlike the long form, with its approximately 17% sample of U.S. housing units in 2000, the ACS is a \u201crolling sample\u201d or \u201ccontinuous measurement\u201d survey of about 295,000 housing units a month, totaling about 3.54 million a year (an increase from the 2005 to 2011 sample size of about 250,000 housing units monthly, totaling about 3 million annually). The data are aggregated to produce one-year, three-year, and five-year estimates. As were the long-form data, ACS estimates are used in program formulas that determine the annual allocation of certain federal funds, currently more than $450 billion, to states and localities.\nThe ACS has several other features in common with the long form: the topics covered are largely the same; responses are required; and the Bureau may follow up, by telephone or in-person visits, with households that do not submit completed questionnaires. The ACS is conducted under the authority of Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 193; so was the long form. Title 44, Section 3501, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and its implementing regulations require federal agencies to obtain Office of Management and Budget approval before collecting information from the public. On the long form, the Bureau could gather only data that were mandatory for particular programs, required by federal law or regulations, or needed for the Bureau\u2019s operations. Likewise, the ACS can collect only necessary information.\nThe limited ACS sample size makes longer cumulations of data necessary to generate reliable estimates for less populous areas. Yearly estimates have been available since 2006, but only for geographic areas with 65,000 or more people. The first three-year period estimates were released in 2008 for areas with at least 20,000 people. The first five-year estimates became available in 2010 for areas from the most populous to those with fewer than 20,000 people. A concern noted by some data users is that the ACS sample size results in less detailed five-year data products for smaller geographic areas\u2014census tracts and block groups\u2014than were available every 10 years from the long form. A related issue is data quality, especially for small areas.\nMandatory ACS responses are an ongoing concern for some Members of Congress and their constituents. A 2003 test showed a 20.7-percentage-point drop in the overall ACS mail cooperation rate when answers were optional. The Bureau estimated in 2003 and 2004 that maintaining data reliability if the survey were voluntary would necessitate increasing the planned annual sample size from about 3 million to 3.7 million housing units, for an extra $59.2 million a year in FY2005 dollars (re-estimated at $66.5 million per year, as of FY2011). In the 113th Congress, H.R. 1078 and S. 530 would have made almost all ACS responses optional. H.R. 1638 would have repealed the authority of the Department of Commerce Secretary and the Census Bureau, a Commerce Department agency, to conduct the ACS and any other surveys or censuses except the decennial census. The bills saw no action beyond referrals. H.R. 4660, to fund the Departments of Commerce and Justice, science agencies, and related agencies (CJS) in FY2015, passed the House with an amendment (Section 545) to prevent, for example, the enforcement of any penalty for ACS nonresponse. The bill did not become law. Instead, CJS entities are funded through September 30, 2015, by P.L. 113-235, which did not adopt Section 545.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41532", "sha1": "e0b2a59156de3db9914ca69122a65aad575e4cf2", "filename": "files/20141219_R41532_e0b2a59156de3db9914ca69122a65aad575e4cf2.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41532", "sha1": "2935f1214b0fd4b8fef603b85a73cfba65f5869c", "filename": "files/20141219_R41532_2935f1214b0fd4b8fef603b85a73cfba65f5869c.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc227693/", "id": "R41532_2013Jun17", "date": "2013-07-17", "retrieved": "2013-11-05T18:07:05", "title": "The American Community Survey: Development, Implementation, and Issues for Congress", "summary": "Report that discusses the American Community Survey (ACS) and the gathering of detailed socioeconomic and housing data from a representative population sample in conjunction with the once-a-decade count of the population of the United States.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20130717_R41532_5f74bd26149c32fd299c2622dd5555c97689b71e.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20130717_R41532_5f74bd26149c32fd299c2622dd5555c97689b71e.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Economic policy", "name": "Economic policy" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Surveys", "name": "Surveys" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Social surveys", "name": "Social surveys" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Intelligence and National Security" ] }