American Community Survey Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2392 To make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary, except with respect to certain basic questions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 29, 2019 Mr. SMITH of Nebraska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary, except with respect to certain basic questions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Community 4 Survey Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PARTICIPATION IN AMERICAN COMMUNITY SUR- 6 VEY. 7 (a) OPTIONAL QUESTIONS.—Section 193 of title 13, 8 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 9 following: ‘‘The Secretary shall include, in the instructions 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2392.IH H2392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2392 IH for completing any survey authorized under this section, 1 a statement indicating that answering any question other 2 than questions that solicit the information described in 3 section 221(c)(2)(A) is optional.’’. 4 (b) REFUSAL TO PARTICIPATE.—Section 221 of title 5 13, United States Code, is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘Whoever, 7 being over eighteen years of age,’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (c), any person 9 older than 18 years of age who’’; and 10 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol- 11 lows: 12 ‘‘(c)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision under 13 this title— 14 ‘‘(A) no person may be compelled to disclose in- 15 formation relative to the person’s religious beliefs or 16 to membership in a religious body; and 17 ‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (2), no 18 person may be fined or otherwise compelled to an- 19 swer questions in connection with the survey, con- 20 ducted by the Secretary of Commerce, which is com- 21 monly referred to as the ‘American Community Sur- 22 vey’. 23 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1)(B)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2392.IH H2392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2392 IH ‘‘(A) shall not apply to any question that elic- 1 its— 2 ‘‘(i) the name of the respondent; 3 ‘‘(ii) contact information for the respond- 4 ent; 5 ‘‘(iii) the date of the response; or 6 ‘‘(iv) the number of people living or stay- 7 ing at the same address; and 8 ‘‘(B) does not waive any penalty imposed for 9 conduct described in subsection (b).’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2392.IH H2392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS