by Meghan Maury
Proposed Rule of the Week: Fraud and Abuse Prevention Program Records. DOJ is proposing to exempt its newly established immigration Fraud and Abuse Prevention Program records system from certain Privacy Act protections, including individuals' rights to access or correct information about themselves and learn how their information has been shared. DOJ argues that these exemptions are necessary to protect ongoing investigations, confidential sources, and law enforcement activities. The exemptions would apply only to records related to official investigations or law enforcement matters, but could make it harder for immigrants and their attorneys to identify or challenge inaccurate allegations, particularly when information is shared with immigration enforcement authorities.
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.
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Fraud and Abuse Prevention Program Records. DOJ is proposing a new records system to maintain complaints and investigations involving suspected immigration fraud, abuse, and unauthorized practice of immigration law. The system would consolidate records previously covered by another system and include personal identifiers, immigration records, witness statements, and investigative materials. DOJ authorizes broad sharing with DHS, law enforcement agencies, licensing authorities, and other entities, and seeks exemptions from Privacy Act requirements allowing individuals to access and correct their records. Although DOJ characterizes the change as an administrative reorganization, the system raises privacy and due process concerns, particularly given the potential use of unsubstantiated allegations in immigration enforcement.
Comments due November 16.
Health
Healthy Start Evaluation and Quality Improvement. HRSA is proposing minor revisions to this set of forms, including clarifying instructions, adjusting select response options, and adding fields to better track infant births and deaths. HRSA has deferred more substantive changes until the 2029–2034 grant cycle. The notice does not propose restoring gender-related questions previously removed from the collection.
Comments due November 12.National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey (N-SUMHSS). SAMHSA is proposing revisions to its annual survey of substance use and mental health treatment facilities, replacing existing crisis services questions with more detailed questions about mobile crisis response, community outreach, and crisis stabilization services. The agency would also add a question asking whether facilities self-identify as faith-based, supplementing an existing question about religious affiliation.
Comments due December 7.Assessment of Communities Talk To Prevent Alcohol and Other Drug Misuse. SAMHSA is revising its survey of community organizations participating in substance use prevention activities, expanding its focus from underage drinking to alcohol and other drug misuse more broadly. The revisions add questions about substances addressed, community partnerships, and prevention strategies, while removing questions about advocacy and engagement with legislators and policymakers. Notably, SAMHSA also eliminates “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBTQ) community members” as a response option identifying populations served by participating organizations, reducing the agency's ability to assess whether prevention activities reach LGBTQ communities. Other changes include adding healthcare providers and prevention specialists as audience categories and removing a follow-up assessment option.
Comments due December 14.
Data Sharing
BJS Statistical Data. DOJ is proposing to establish a new Privacy Act system of records covering data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics through surveys, interviews, and administrative records. The system would include sensitive information about crime victims, incarcerated individuals, defendants, and others involved in the justice system, including demographic, medical, criminal history, and immigration-related information. It would permit data sharing and linkage with other agencies and researchers for approved statistical purposes, while explicitly prohibiting use of identifiable information for law enforcement, immigration enforcement, or individual benefit determinations. Although the system would be exempt from certain Privacy Act access and correction requirements, it remains subject to strict statutory confidentiality protections.
Comments due November 16.Data Matching Program: Military Health Benefits. DOD is proposing a new data matching program that would compare records from TRICARE and other military health benefit and retirement programs against Treasury's Do Not Pay database to identify potentially improper payments. The matching would include names, Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and banking information. The program operates under a waiver of certain Privacy Act requirements for formal data matching agreements, raising privacy and oversight concerns about expanded government data sharing. (Note: There are 9 substantially similar listings for these programs in the Federal Register from October 14.)
Comments due December 14.
Agriculture
Agricultural Surveys Program. NASS is proposing revisions to the 2027 June Area Survey and Agricultural Coverage Evaluation Survey (ACES), which collect information about agricultural production and help assess coverage of the Census of Agriculture. The agency would combine the two surveys into a single modified questionnaire to reduce respondent burden and improve consistency. Notably, NASS is also revising its race and ethnicity questions to continue using the 1997 OMB standards rather than implementing the updated 2024 standards, citing OMB's March 2026 extension of the implementation planning deadline. This would delay adoption of the combined race and ethnicity question and updated categories, including Middle Eastern or North African (MENA), in these agricultural surveys. NASS says it will continue developing plans to implement the 2024 standards.
Comments due November 16.
Economy
Heightened Import Disclosures for Supply Chain Visibility. CBP is exploring a major expansion of the data collected on goods imported into the United States, including foreign customs records and more detailed identifiers for manufacturers, shippers, exporters, and other supply-chain participants. The agency is also considering replacing or supplementing its existing manufacturer identifier with standardized global business identifiers and integrating the new information into AI and other supply-chain tracing systems. The notice raises broader data questions about entity identification, data quality and verification, interoperability with existing federal trade systems, and confidentiality.
Comments due December 1.
Education
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). ED is proposing changes to the IPEDS Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement and include revised institutional eligibility criteria, improvements to data aggregation tools, removal of certain variables based on disclosure avoidance concerns, and clarifications to reporting instructions. Other IPEDS components remain unchanged. While the changes appear largely technical, the removal of variables may warrant attention to assess potential impacts on data availability and utility.
Comments due December 8.