OMB Extends Deadlines on Race/Ethnicity Data Overhaul
On September 26, 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extended two timelines under Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15): Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. In 2024, OMB issued updates to the race and ethnicity categories that are used for data collection across the federal government. Those updates remain in effect, but OMB has pushed back deadlines for implementation by six months. Quick Hits Chief Financial Officers Act agencies and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must now submit Action Plans on Race and Ethnicity Data to OMB by March 28, 2026, extending the September 28, 2025, deadline that had been imposed when OMB released the SPD 15 revisions in March of 2024. OMB also extended the deadline to update federal information collections of race and ethnicity data to be consistent with the new standards. Such updates must be made as soon as possible, but the new deadline h...