Adding AI questions to a survey that already runs — improving measurement without building a new statistic

1Choosing not to build a new survey

Standing up a new survey is the natural instinct when statistics are needed. But a new survey means starting design, sampling, response rates and the accumulation of a time series all from zero, and it takes years before anything is usable. This bill takes another road, centering on adding items to a survey already running.

What the text defines is the Business Trends and Outlook Survey, the recurring survey the Census Bureau conducts to measure business conditions and expectations across industries.

2What riding on an existing survey buys

The Business Trends and Outlook Survey exists to measure business conditions and expectations across industries. Questions about how AI adoption is affecting a business connect naturally to that subject, and for responding businesses the burden is lighter than answering an entirely separate instrument.

3What authorization means

Authorization in the bill name refers to conferring the power to carry out an activity by statute. A statistical agency adding new items to a survey needs legal footing and a budget basis. Supplying that footing is the substance of this bill. Rather than fixing in law exactly what to measure and how, it grants the authority and leaves the detail to practice.

4Three sponsors together

The sponsors are Mr. Kelly, Mr. Banks and Mr. Young, spanning parties. Across the bills this site covers, measuring AI and employment draws several different instruments in parallel: quarterly disclosure by employers, a fund and board, a one-time study by the Comptroller General, and riding on an existing survey as here. The range of answers to one problem is visible at once.

Of the 120 bills this site holds as of 2026-09-02, 94 (78 percent) remain referred to committee.