Bill > S3756

This bill, titled the Poverty Statistics Enhancement Act, mandates that the Bureau of the Census, led by its Director, implement a new methodology for measuring poverty within one year of enactment. This new approach will incorporate the distributional analysis of household income, a method previously used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which involves calculating an individual's income by subtracting taxes paid from the sum of their earned income (income from employment, investments, and certain employer-provided benefits) and government transfer payments (such as unemployment benefits, Social Security, and food assistance). The bill also defines key terms like "earned income" and "government transfer payments" to ensure clarity in data collection and analysis, and requires federal, state, and local agencies to provide necessary data to the Bureau of the Census. Furthermore, the Director must submit reports to Congress detailing the implementation of this new methodology, comparing the recalculated poverty and income inequality measures to previous ones, and ensuring all future publications use this updated calculation method, while also safeguarding personally identifiable information.