by Meghan Maury
Survey of the Week: Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement. Census is planning a major 2027 field test of the CPS ASEC, the source of official national poverty estimates and major data on income and health insurance. For the first time, Census will test allowing people to complete the ASEC online themselves rather than only through an interviewer, as part of a broader CPS modernization planned for 2027–2029. Because converting an interviewer-administered survey to internet self-response requires changes throughout the questionnaire, Census will test whether the new format and revised questions produce comparable estimates of poverty, income, health insurance, and other measures. About 50,000 households will participate.
Comments due November 16.
Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
Note: The Take Action tab of dataindex.us provides information about even more surveys, forms, evaluations, and records notices than are listed in your weekly newsletter.
Health
Transformed—Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS). CMS is revising T-MSIS, the national database of Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, services, and expenditures, to implement new federal restrictions on immigrant eligibility. Changes include updating immigration status categories and adding codes to identify people disenrolled because of immigration status or verification issues. CMS is also adding a code to improve tracking of home health payments. The new immigration-related data will support federal oversight and enforcement of eligibility restrictions, while also potentially providing information about coverage losses resulting from those policies.
Comments due November 6.
Labor and Employment
DOL Participant Individual Record Layout. DOL is proposing substantial reductions to performance reporting requirements for federally funded workforce development programs, including eliminating numerous data elements from participant-level records and reducing program-specific reporting. These changes could make it harder to assess who receives employment and training services, evaluate program outcomes, and identify disparities across populations. The notice provides limited detail about which data elements would be eliminated, making the implications for transparency and accountability difficult to assess.
Comments due November 30.
Emergency Management
Repatriation Program. HHS is revising 13 forms used by the Repatriation Program, which provides temporary assistance to people returning from abroad during emergencies or other crises. Changes include eliminating some financial and dependent information from existing forms while introducing a comprehensive needs assessment collecting information about medical needs, disabilities, housing, legal assistance, and other services. HHS is also adding reporting on state emergency response operations. The new assessment could improve coordination of assistance, although it raises questions about how sensitive information will be protected and used.
Comments due December 1.
Housing
2027 Rental Housing Finance Survey. HUD is proposing updates to the 2027 Rental Housing Finance Survey, conducted every three years to collect data on rental property ownership, financing, management, and costs. New questions would cover evictions and the eviction process, the types of properties owned by landlords with multiple properties, and maintenance and improvement costs related to natural disasters. The survey is a key source of information for understanding the rental housing market and informing housing policy.
Comments due November 24.
Education
Federal Student Aid Portfolio Research, Analysis, Oversight, Reporting, and Compliance Records. Treasury is establishing a new system of records to support its expanding role in overseeing and managing federal student loans and grants under an agreement with the Department of Education. Treasury will receive extensive individual-level data from Education, including borrowers’ financial information, repayment histories, demographics, disability-related loan discharges, and records of complaints and appeals. The system will support loan collection, program oversight, research, and monitoring of the transition to Treasury. Although Education remains the official custodian of the underlying records, the notice provides concrete evidence of the transfer of student aid functions and raises questions about privacy, data sharing, and accountability as responsibilities shift between agencies.
Comments due November 6.
Federal Statistics
Qualitative Research To Improve 2030 Census Communications. Census is proposing 50 in-depth interviews to improve communications and outreach for the 2030 Census, focusing on why some households do not participate and what messages might encourage participation. Researchers will interview people across the United States and Puerto Rico, including communities and geographic areas that are particularly difficult to count. The findings will inform Census advertising and outreach strategies. This is a small-scale, generally positive research effort that could help reduce undercounts, although its effectiveness will depend on which populations are included.
Comments due November 4.Proposed Data Sharing Activity. Census is proposing to share confidential company-level data from several economic surveys with the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to improve federal economic statistics. BEA would use the data to compare and reconcile Census and BEA records, improve coverage and industry classifications, and strengthen national, regional, and industry economic measures without collecting additional information from businesses. Access would be limited to specially sworn BEA employees, the data could be used only for statistical purposes, and federal tax information would not be shared.
Comments due November 23.National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. BLS is proposing a supplemental 2027 survey of approximately 4,500 participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, which has tracked the same individuals for nearly five decades. The 17-minute survey would collect information on AI use, employment, income, health, mental health, and how people spend their time, providing new insights into the experiences of adults now in their 60s. Interviews would be conducted online or by telephone. This is an additional data collection rather than a reduction in the existing survey.
Comments due November 30.
Child Welfare
Reforming Federal Reporting and Assessments in Child Welfare. HHS is proposing to eliminate numerous planning, reporting, and evaluation requirements for federally funded state and Tribal child welfare programs, reducing estimated reporting hours by 61%. Changes include removing requirements to describe vulnerable populations, establish detailed goals and performance measures, report baseline trends, and document community consultation and coordination. Some information will continue to be collected through other federal systems, and the changes could meaningfully reduce administrative burdens for Tribal agencies. However, the reductions could weaken federal oversight and make it harder to evaluate child welfare services and identify gaps affecting vulnerable children and families.
Comments due November 4.
ICYMI
Privacy Act Exemptions. Treasury finalized a rule exempting portions of its new federal fraud-reporting database from Privacy Act protections. The database collects tips, allegations, and other information about suspected fraud, improper payments, and misuse of federal funds for referral to investigators and other agencies. Records classified as law-enforcement investigatory material will be exempt from requirements allowing individuals to access or correct their information, learn who received it, or limit collection to relevant and necessary information. Although the exemptions are limited to qualifying investigative records, they raise significant concerns about privacy, transparency, and the retention of potentially inaccurate or unsubstantiated allegations.