Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions

The Department of Commerce will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on June 24, 2021 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce Department.

Title: Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions.

OMB Control Number: 0607-0143.

Form Number(s): F-10.

Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for an Extension, without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection.

Number of Respondents: 100.

Average Hours per Response: 45 minutes.

Burden Hours: 300.

Needs and Uses: The Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions, provides a rich source of data on public retirement systems administered by state and local governments in the United States. Over 4.6 trillion dollars in public pension assets in the financial markets are controlled by a small number of large retirement systems. The frame for the 2012 Census of Governments identified 3,992 public retirement systems administered by state and local governments and 5,529 were identified in the 2017 Census of Governments. The 100 largest systems, as measured by the system assets, account for about 87.2 percent of the total assets of all systems, based on the 2012 Census of Governments. The Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions is used to collect data on the revenues, expenditures, and composition of assets of the 100 largest defined benefit public employee pension systems for state and local governments.

Currently, we are requesting approval to conduct the 2022, 2023 and 2024 Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions.

This survey was initiated in 1968 at the request of both the Council of Economic Advisers and the Federal Reserve Board. The most important information this survey provides is the quarterly change in composition of the securities holdings of the defined benefit public employee retirement systems component of the economy. The Federal Reserve Board uses these data to track the public sector portion of the Flow of Funds Accounts. Additionally, the data are used by a variety of government officials, academics, students, and non-profit organizations to analyze trends in public employee retirement and the impact of retirement obligations on the fiscal well-being of state and local governments.

The survey provides a focus on the asset composition of the largest systems. These data are already produced for existing internal and external needs, and most closely align with the needs of the Federal Reserve Board. Additionally, the related Annual Survey of Public Pensions (0607-0585) will continue to provide a robust collection of revenue and benefit data on a fiscal year basis. These data items are in demand on an annual basis and are already created for internal and external purposes by most systems as they are required items in Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs).

Summary tables of the information collected are released quarterly on the internet. Documentation and explanatory materials are also available on the internet site here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/qspp.html .

Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal government.

Frequency: Quarterly.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Legal Authority: Title 13, U.S.C., section 161 and 182.

This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 0607-0143.