Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens individual choice and transparency by making ACS participation explicitly voluntary, but that choice risks degrading census data quality—potentially reducing equitable federal funding, impairing local planning, and raising census costs.
People receiving the ACS (including taxpayers and people with disabilities) can decline to answer questions without fear of criminal penalties, protecting individual autonomy and avoiding fines or prosecution.
ACS forms must state that participation is voluntary, increasing transparency about respondent rights.
Explicitly notifying respondents that the survey is voluntary may build trust among privacy-conscious groups (e.g., people with disabilities, renters) and could modestly improve willingness to engage with other voluntary government programs.
Reduced ACS participation could make census-based estimates less accurate, leading to poorer federal fund allocation and eligibility determinations that would likely disadvantage state and local governments and low-income communities.
Lower response rates would degrade small-area statistics, harming local planning for schools, transit, emergency services, and other infrastructure decisions that communities and local governments rely on.
Less reliable ACS data could cause misallocation of social service funding and program eligibility assessments, potentially disadvantaging vulnerable populations such as low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and renters.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Removes the penalty for refusing to answer the American Community Survey and requires the survey to state that participation is voluntary.
Makes responses to the American Community Survey (ACS) voluntary by removing the statutory penalty for refusing to answer ACS questions and requiring the Census Bureau to include a clear statement on the survey that participation is voluntary. The change applies to the ACS and any successor survey but does not alter penalties for other censuses or surveys. This would likely reduce legal compulsion to respond, which could lower response rates and weaken the quality and completeness of data that federal, state, and local agencies, researchers, and businesses use for planning and funding decisions. The bill does not provide new funding or change how other Census operations are conducted.
Introduced July 29, 2025 by W. Greg Steube · Last progress July 29, 2025