Sponsors (5)
The bill increases individual voluntariness and clarity for ACS respondents at the cost of weakening the survey's data quality, which could worsen service targeting and raise costs for state and local governments.
Households and taxpayers can refuse individual ACS questions without facing federal penalties, protecting respondent choice and reducing legal risk for households.
Survey forms will explicitly state that ACS participation is voluntary, improving informed consent and clarity for respondents.
Hospitals, schools, state and local governments, and low-income communities may receive poorer-targeted services because lower ACS response rates would reduce data quality used for allocating programs like education, health, and transportation.
State and local governments, schools, and researchers could face less accurate federal and state planning, funding, and research outcomes because refusals reduce ACS data quality.
State and local governments (and ultimately taxpayers) may incur higher costs to replace or supplement weakened ACS data through alternative surveys, outreach, or analysis.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 28, 2025 by James Risch · Last progress January 28, 2025
Makes participation in the American Community Survey (ACS) explicitly voluntary by removing federal penalties for refusing or neglecting to answer ACS questions and requiring the Census Bureau to display a clear statement that the survey is voluntary. Changes are made by amending provisions of Title 13, U.S. Code to eliminate penalty exposure for nonresponse to the ACS (or any successor survey) and to require a voluntary-participation notice on the survey instrument. The bill does not change other Census authorities beyond the ACS provisions; its principal effects are legal (removing penalty exposure) and informational (requiring an explicit voluntary notice), with downstream impacts on data collection, data quality, and users who rely on ACS data for planning and funding decisions.