Chapter 35, Subchapter I, Section 3504, Subsection (e) · 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35 — COORDINATION OF FEDERAL INFORMATION POLICY

Contents

(e)With respect to statistical policy and coordination, the Director shall—

(1)coordinate the activities of the Federal statistical system to ensure—

(A)the efficiency and effectiveness of the system; and

(B)the integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information collected for statistical purposes;

(2)ensure that budget proposals of agencies are consistent with system-wide priorities for maintaining and improving the quality of Federal statistics and prepare an annual report on statistical program funding;

(3)develop and oversee the implementation of Governmentwide policies, principles, standards, and guidelines concerning—

(A)statistical collection procedures and methods;

(B)statistical data classification;

(C)statistical information presentation and dissemination;

(D)timely release of statistical data; and

(E)such statistical data sources as may be required for the administration of Federal programs;

(4)evaluate statistical program performance and agency compliance with Governmentwide policies, principles, standards and guidelines;

(5)promote the sharing of information collected for statistical purposes consistent with privacy rights and confidentiality pledges;

(6)coordinate the participation of the United States in international statistical activities, including the development of comparable statistics;

(7)appoint a chief statistician who is a trained and experienced professional statistician to carry out the functions described under this subsection;

(8)establish an Interagency Council on Statistical Policy to advise and assist the Director in carrying out the functions under this subsection that shall—

(A)be headed by the chief statistician; and

(B)consist of—

(i)the heads of the major statistical programs; and

(ii)representatives of other statistical agencies under rotating membership;

(9)provide opportunities for training in statistical policy functions to employees of the Federal Government under which—

(A)each trainee shall be selected at the discretion of the Director based on agency requests and shall serve under the chief statistician for at least 6 months and not more than 1 year; and

(B)all costs of the training shall be paid by the agency requesting training; and

(10)ensure that any change to the standards of core-based statistical area (as defined in section 4 of the MAPS Act of 2021) delineations pursuant to this subsection shall—

(A)be accompanied by a public report that explains—

(i)the scientific basis, criteria, and methodology for such change to existing standards, including clear quantitative thresholds for determining any future statistical re-delineations; and

(ii)the opinions of domestic and international experts in statistics and demographics, including government experts at the Bureau of the Census and other relevant agencies, who were consulted regarding such change to existing standards;

(B)not be influenced by any non-statistical considerations such as impact on program administration or service delivery; and

(C)not propagate automatically for any non-statistical use by any domestic assistance program (as defined in section 4 of the MAPS Act of 2021).

United States Government work; public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Defined terms · 37

Show every defined term

agency
means any executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Government (including the Executive Office of the President), or any independent regulatory agency, but does not include—
agent
means an individual—
appropriate congressional committees
means—
binding operational directive
means a compulsory direction to an agency that—
burden
means time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, or provide information to or for a Federal agency, including the resources expended for—
business data
means operating and financial data and information about businesses, tax-exempt organizations, and government entities.
comprehensive data inventory
means the inventory created under section 3511(a), but does not include any underlying data asset listed on the inventory;
confidentiality
means a quality or condition accorded to information as an obligation not to disclose that information to an unauthorized party.
data
means recorded information, regardless of form or the media on which the data is recorded;
data asset
means a collection of data elements or data sets that may be grouped together;
Designated Statistical Agency
means each of the following:
Director
means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
evidence
means information produced as a result of statistical activities conducted for a statistical purpose.
identifiable form
means any representation of information that permits the identity of the respondent to whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means.
incident
means an occurrence that—
independent regulatory agency
means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Office of Financial Research, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and any other similar agency designated by statute as a Federal independent regulatory agency or commission;
information resources
means information and related resources, such as personnel, equipment, funds, and information technology;
information resources management
means the process of managing information resources to accomplish agency missions and to improve agency performance, including through the reduction of information collection burdens on the public;
information security
means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction in order to provide—
information system
means a discrete set of information resources organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, or disposition of information;
information technology
has the meaning given that term in section 11101 of title 40 but does not include national security systems as defined in section 11103 of title 40;
intelligence community
has the meaning given that term in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)).
metadata
means structural or descriptive information about data such as content, format, source, rights, accuracy, provenance, frequency, periodicity, granularity, publisher or responsible party, contact information, method of collection, and other descriptions;
mobile friendly
means, with respect to a website, that the website is configured in such a way that the website may be navigated, viewed, and accessed on a smartphone, tablet computer, or similar mobile device.
national security system
means any information system (including any telecommunications system) used or operated by an agency or by a contractor of an agency, or other organization on behalf of an agency—
open Government data asset
means a public data asset that is—
open license
means a legal guarantee that a data asset is made available—
penalty
includes the imposition by an agency or court of a fine or other punishment;
person
means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or legal representative, an organized group of individuals, a State, territorial, tribal, or local government or branch thereof, or a political subdivision of a State, territory, tribal, or local government or a branch of a political subdivision;
practical utility
means the ability of an agency to use information, particularly the capability to process such information in a timely and useful fashion;
public data asset
means a data asset, or part thereof, maintained by the Federal Government that has been, or may be, released to the public, including any data asset, or part thereof, subject to disclosure under section 552 of title 5;
public information
means any information, regardless of form or format, that an agency discloses, disseminates, or makes available to the public;
recordkeeping requirement
means a requirement imposed by or for an agency on persons to maintain specified records, including a requirement to—
respondent
means a person who, or organization that, is requested or required to supply information to an agency, is the subject of information requested or required to be supplied to an agency, or provides that information to an agency.
Secretary
means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
statistical agency or unit
means an agency or organizational unit of the executive branch whose activities are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes, as designated by the Director under section 3562.
statistical laws
means subchapter III of this chapter and other laws pertaining to the protection of information collected for statistical purposes as designated by the Director.