by Meghan Maury
Collection of the Week:
Mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). The CRDC collects data related to the civil rights laws' requirement that public local educational agencies (LEA) and elementary and secondary schools provide equal educational opportunity. In the 60-day notice on the CRDC, ED proposed several changes to the collection, including improving data collection on nonbinary students and race and ethnicity and adding additional collection elements on disability and bullying. In a more recent document, ED announced that it would discontinue the collection of nonbinary data, along with several other questions that include gender identity information, such as questions about bullying and harassment based on gender identity. However, changes to questions about race, ethnicity, and disability appear to be moving forward.
Comments due Sept. 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.
Data Sharing
Education: Department of Education and SSA Data Sharing. This notice announces a matching program between the Department of Education and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to assist ED in the verification of Social Security numbers, confirmation of citizenship status as recorded in SSA records, and death indicators of individuals who initiate the steps associated with accessing programs authorized by title IV of the Higher Education Act.
Comments due Sept. 5.Military: Selective Service Systems of Record Notice. This notice amends all 7 Selective Service System's Systems of Records Notices' (SORNs) routine uses to allow for the disclosure of personally identifiable information to the appropriate parties in the course of responding to a breach or suspected breach of the agency's PII or to assist another agency in its response to a confirmed or suspected breach.
Comments due Sept. 30.Military: Selective Service System Registration Form 1. This form is used by 18-year-old citizens and immigrants living in the US to register for military service. The listing indicates that SSS is making changes to the Privacy Act statement on the form - the list of entities that SSS will share registration information with - but it's unclear from the listing what changes are being made.
Comments due Oct. 6.
Race + Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation + Gender Identity Changes
Emergency Management: Data Resource Toolkit Protocol for the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program. This suite of forms is used to record information about mental and behavioral health services provided to people and communities in the wake of a presidentially declared major emergency. Forms are being revised to update race and ethnicity questions to align with SPD15, to remove gender options other than male or female, to remove questions about recent immigration, to add a question about primary languages spoken during encounters, and to implement several other technical changes.
Comments due Oct. 6.Firearms:
ATF is revising several of its firearms-related forms to align with the new SPD15 race and ethnicity standards:
Application To Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax Exempt). This form is used to apply for permission to transfer and register a National Firearms Act (NFA) firearm. In addition to several other technical changes, ATF is revising this form to combine the race and ethnicity questions in alignment with SPD15.
Comments due Oct. 6.Application To Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax Paid). This form is used by people with an NFA firearm to apply to ATF for approval to transfer and register the firearm. In addition to reducing transfer fees to $0, ATF is making a number of small technical revisions and combining the race and ethnicity questions to align with new SPD15 guidance.
Comments due Oct. 7.Application To Make and Register NFA Firearm. This form is used by any person other than a qualified manufacturer who wishes to make and register an NFA firearm. In addition to several technical changes, ATF is revising this form to combine the race and ethnicity questions in alignment with the new SPD15 standards.
Comments due Oct. 7.
Surveys
Labor/Workforce: Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. This survey measures the overall rate of work injuries and illnesses by industry and is the primary indicator of the Nation's progress in providing every working man and woman safe and healthful working conditions. The listing does not indicate that any changes are being made to the survey at this time.
Comments due Sept. 8.Retail Sales: Monthly Retail Surveys. The Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) provides estimates of monthly retail sales, end-of-month merchandise inventories, and quarterly e-commerce sales; the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MARTS) provides an early indication of monthly sales for retail trade and food services firms. The Census Bureau is planning to extend both of these surveys without changes.
Comments due Oct. 6.
Also of Note
NIH Research: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications. Through this notice, NIH is setting a policy that it will not consider applications that are either substantially developed by AI, or contain sections substantially developed by AI, to be original ideas of applicants. Further, it will only accept six new, renewal, resubmission, or revision applications from an individual Principal Investigator/Program Director or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year.
Comments due Sept. 25.
This newsletter is made possible by a very generous donation from the Leadership Conference Education Fund.