The Poverty Statistics Enhancement Act directs the Census Bureau to adopt a new method of measuring poverty based on Congressional Budget Office guidelines, calculating income as earned income plus government transfer payments minus taxes paid. The law requires federal, state, and local agencies to provide data within 180 days to support this new measurement system, which must be developed and implemented within one year. The Census Bureau Director must submit two reports to Congress within one year comparing results from the new methodology to existing poverty measures and will reconcile all income and tax figures against independent government and private benchmarks to ensure accuracy. The legislation includes strict privacy protections for any personally identifiable information collected, with criminal penalties of up to $300,000 in fines and five years imprisonment for unauthorized access or disclosure.
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