In 2022, the Chief Statistician of the United States (CSOTUS) within the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) convened the Federal Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards (Working Group) to review and develop recommendations for revising OMB's 1997 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). Consistent with the established OMB process, the Working Group is comprised of Federal career staff who represent programs that collect or use race and ethnicity data.

CSOTUS charged the Working Group with providing recommendations on how to improve the quality and usefulness of SPD 15, to help make sure that Federal race and ethnicity data better reflects a diverse America.

OMB requested comments on the initial proposals from the Working Group for revising OMB’s SPD 15. These were initial proposals, not the final recommendations of the Working Group or the position of the CSOTUS, OMB, or the agencies participating on the Working Group.

Responses to this Federal Register Notice will guide the Working Group as they develop their final recommendations to OMB and will also help OMB determine how to revise SPD 15 to improve the quality and usefulness of Federal race and ethnicity data.