by Meghan Maury
Report of the Week: Annual Report on Households Assisted by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP provides assistance to low-income households to help pay for heating and cooling costs. This collection is used to gather information about LIHEAP program utilization and about the characteristics of households receiving LIHEAP support. ACF is proposing several changes to the collection, including removing questions on race, ethnicity, and gender, which will make it more difficult to determine if LIHEAP funds are serving communities equitably. According to the listing, ACF is removing the race and ethnicity questions because they are not statutorily required and not used for eligibility determinations.
Comments due June 8.
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.
Labor and Employment
Student Experience Assessment (SEA) of Job Corps Centers. This collection is used to evaluate whether Job Corps center program activities are intensive, well organized, and fully supervised as required under WIOA and whether Job Corps students are receiving quality services that the program is funded to provide. In this revision, Job Corps is formalizing several changes to the collection, including the removal of gender identity response options and a sexual orientation questions, as well as changing language on the form from "This center is a welcoming place for people of all races, genders, sexual orientations, cultural backgrounds, religions, and viewpoints” to “This center is a welcoming place for all people.”
Comments due June 1.
Criminal Justice
Census of Prosecutor Offices. This survey collects data from all prosecutor offices in the U.S. on topics like staff sizes and roles, demographics, caseloads, expenditures, and use of case management systems. The 2025 iteration of this Census combines questions from the 2007 census, the 2020 National Survey of Prosecutors, and new or updated questions.
Comments due May 29.
Health
Job Corps Health Questionnaire. This form is used to collect information about Job Corps applicants' medical needs and health conditions and is reviewed when a Job Corps applicant is deemed eligible for the program and conditionally enrolled. In addition to formalizing changes to gender identity, preferred name, and pronoun questions, DOL is removing all questions about oral health because Job Corps no longer offers oral health services.
Comments due June 1.Black Lung Clinics Program Performance Measures. The BLCP is designed to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with occupationally related coal mine dust lung disease through the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of active, inactive, retired, and/or disabled coal miners. The forms covered by this listing collect information used to assess clinic performance. HRSA is making a number of changes to the forms, including formalizing the removal of gender identity and intersex response options, consolidating diagnosis fields, removing COVID-related questions, and adding new cardiology-related questions.
Comments due June 1.Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) National Evaluation. This new study is designed to assess whether the SRAE program impacts the knowledge, attitudes, skills, intentions, and behaviors of participants when compared to youth in the comparison program.
Comments due May 8.
Immigration
Annual Survey of Refugees. The ASR collects data on the experiences of refugees who recently resettled in the United States. In the listing, ACF indicates that no changes are being made to the survey - and defends the lack of changes specifically and directly. There will be changes made to the survey instructions - the listing indicates that "ACF acknowledges that English is the official language and authoritative version of all federal information and will note this on the translated material." The survey is translated into 20 languages.
Comments due June 8.Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program Application. The forms in this package are used on behalf of unaccompanied minors in the U.S. who are applying for entry into the URM Program. The application includes biographical data and information on the child's needs to support placement efforts. ORR is making a host of changes to these forms including reducing the number of open-ended text box questions, changing the format of other questions to allow for quicker responses, cutting unnecessary questions, and revising instructions for enhanced clarity. This revision also formalizes a number of changes made last year to gender and demographic questions.
Comments due June 8.
Data Sharing
VA and DOD Data Sharing and Matching Agreement. Under this agreement, DOD will share information with VA that VA will use to verify that individuals meet the conditions of military service and eligibility criteria for payment of benefits determined by VA under the Montgomery GI Bill.
Comments due May 10.HUD Data Sharing Agreement. Under this agreement, HUD is proposing to share data from its Single Family Mortgage Insurance Origination System with the Department of Treasury when relevant to review payment and award eligibility through the Do Not Pay Working System for the purposes of identifying, preventing, or recouping improper payments to an applicant for, or recipient of, Federal funds, including funds disbursed by a state in a state-administered, federally funded program.
Comments due May 6.
Also of Note:
Designation of Databases to the Do Not Pay Working System. This notice confirms that Treasury will designate the Social Security Administration's Numerical Identification System (Numident) database for inclusion in the Do Not Pay Working System.