SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

This proposed information collection seeks to update the NDCP, a comprehensive federal source of county-level childcare prices. The NDCP was first made available to the public in 2022, and it currently provides comprehensive data for the years 2008 through 2021. The NDCP is based on data collected by each state or territory in its childcare Market Rate Surveys. State or territorial human services or workforce development offices conduct the surveys as a requirement to receive Child Care and Development Block Grants (CCDBG). The surveys provide market prices of various types of child care ( e.g., center-based, home-based), by age of children ( e.g., infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children) and by geography. The surveys are used to establish reimbursement rates for childcare subsidies. Market Rate Surveys collect childcare price information from a subset of all eligible centers and care providers in the priced market to obtain an estimate of the full market price of care in that locality. Because the surveys establish the full market price of care in local areas, the data is ideal to examine local childcare prices. However, this data is not reported to the federal government and is retained by the states or territories. As a result, reporting metrics are not standardized across jurisdictions, and some of the data is not accessible to the public.

Market Rate Surveys are currently collected in three-year cycles. The information collection would request surveys for the most recent data collection cycle. The data requested would have been collected already by the states and territories to meet federal regulations; no new data collection obligation is created in this request. DOL would harmonize child-care price measures to ensure that they are comparable across jurisdictions. The data would then be combined with county-level characteristics publicly available from the American Community Survey. The resulting database (NDCP) would be evaluated to protect respondent confidentiality, implementing proper disclosure avoidance techniques in counties with small samples. The NDCP would be made available to the public as a research tool to understand childcare prices at the county level and changes in childcare prices over time. Section 2 of Public Law 66-259 that established the Women's Bureau authorizes this information collection. See29 U.S.C. 13.

This information collection is subject to the PRA. A federal agency generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and the public is generally not required to respond to an information collection, unless it is approved by the OMB under the PRA and displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no person shall generally be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information that does not display a valid Control Number. See5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

This Federal Register Notice provides the opportunity to comment on the proposed data collection. DOL is particularly interested in comments on:

• • whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
  • the accuracy of the agency's burden estimate of the proposed information collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions;
  • the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
  • how the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond could be minimized, including ( printed page 61451) through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology ( e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses).

III. Current Actions

At this time, DOL is requesting clearance to request market rate survey data collected by the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to update the National Database of Childcare Prices.

Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved collection.

OMB Control Number: 1290-0025.

Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.

Number of Respondents: 52.

Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.

Number of Responses: 52.

Average Burden Time per Response: 2 hours.

Estimated Burden Hours: 104 hours.

Comments submitted in response to this request will be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget approval of the information collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.

IV. Authority

44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

91 FR 61450