Sponsors (5)
The bill strengthens individual choice and transparency by making ACS participation explicitly voluntary and removing penalties, but that choice risks degrading the quality and completeness of data used to allocate federal funds, plan services, and represent vulnerable populations.
All residents: can refuse to answer American Community Survey (ACS) questions without facing federal fines or penalties, protecting individual choice to decline participation.
Survey respondents: the Census Bureau must clearly state on ACS materials that participation is voluntary, improving transparency about respondents' obligations.
Privacy-concerned and marginalized people: removing penalties and adding a voluntary notice may increase public trust and willingness to engage with government surveys among those worried about privacy or immigration status.
Low-income, rural, and service-dependent communities: reduced ACS response and lower data quality could impair federal grant-allocation formulas and the distribution of resources that rely on ACS estimates.
Hard-to-reach populations (immigrants, renters, racial/ethnic minorities): voluntary participation may increase nonresponse bias and lead to underrepresentation in data used for policy and services.
State and local governments: agencies that rely on ACS for small-area population, housing, and economic estimates may receive less-complete data, weakening local planning and service delivery.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Makes answering American Community Survey questions voluntary and requires the Census Bureau to state that participation is voluntary on the survey.
Introduced January 28, 2025 by James Risch · Last progress January 28, 2025
Makes answering questions on the American Community Survey (ACS) voluntary by removing the statute that allows penalties for refusing or neglecting to answer ACS questions, and requires 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 and modifies Title 13 of the U.S. Code. This will directly affect households who receive the ACS, the Census Bureau’s survey operations, and all users of ACS data (local governments, researchers, nonprofits, businesses). Lower response rates or changes in response patterns could reduce the precision and reliability of ACS estimates used for planning, funding decisions, and research.