[Federal Register: March 26, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 59)]
[Notices]
[Page 15978-15981]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26mr08-45]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2010 Decennial
Census
AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)).
DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted on
or before May 27, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Diana Hynek, Departmental
Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 14th
and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet
at: dHynek@doc.gov).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions
should be directed to Frank Vitrano, U.S. Census Bureau, Room 3H174,
Washington, DC 20233-9200, 301-763-3961 (or via Internet at:
frank.a.vitrano@census.gov.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution mandates
that the U.S. House of Representatives be reapportioned every ten years
by conducting a national census of all residents. In addition to the
reapportionment of the U.S. Congress, by law, Census data are required
in order to redraw legislative district boundaries. Census data also
are used to determine funding allocations for the distribution of
hundreds of billions of dollars of federal and state funds each year.
From the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau will produce the basic
population totals by state for Congressional apportionment, as mandated
by the Constitution, and more specifically elaborated in Title 13 U.S.
Code. Title 13 of the United States Code also provides for the
confidentiality of responses to various surveys and censuses.
In compliance with Public Law 94-171, for each state, the Census
Bureau will tabulate total population counts by race, Hispanic origin,
and, for those 18 years of age and over, by a variety of census
geographic areas including legislative district, voting district, and
census tabulation blocks. In compliance with Public Law 94-171, the
Census Bureau also will tabulate housing unit counts by occupancy
status (and vacant).
In the process of developing our data collection instruments for
the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau has attempted to reduce respondent
burden in two major ways: (1) By providing all households a short form
questionnaire containing seven population questions for each household
member and four household questions for the person completing the form,
and (2) by providing enumerators working in the neighborhoods an up-to-
the-minute status of completed questionnaires received by the office,
thereby eliminating the need to visit a household that sent in a late
return by mail.
II. Method of Collection
A. Mailing Strategy for Questionnaires, Letters, Reminder Postcards
The mailout/mailback method is the primary means of census taking
during the 2010 Census. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver Census
Bureau-addressed questionnaires to housing units. Residents will be
asked to complete and mail the questionnaires back in a postage-paid
envelope. For Census 2000, this method was used for more than 80
percent of the housing units in the United States. We will use this
method again in 2010.
In the designated mailout/mailback areas of the United States, the
2010 Census will use a multiple mailing strategy--an advance notice
letter, an initial questionnaire, a reminder or thank you postcard, and
a replacement questionnaire. Our ``multiple contact'' mailing strategy
was developed to get the highest mail response rate possible. Our
studies have shown that mailing both a letter telling residents that a
questionnaire is on the way, and a postcard reminding them to send it
in, increase the mail return rate. We have found that the second
mailing, or
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replacement mailing, increases the rate of response by at least 7
percentage points and eliminates the need to send a census worker to
the home, thereby saving taxpayer dollars. In summary, mailings will
include:
An advance notice letter that alerts households that the
census form will be sent to them soon.
An initial mailing package that includes the
questionnaire. In some areas the questionnaire is in English, in others
it is a bilingual (English/Spanish) form.
A reminder post card or letter that serves as a thank you
for returning the questionnaire, or a reminder to mail it. For those
housing units receiving the bilingual questionnaire, the reminder will
be a bilingual (English and Spanish) letter.
An English-language replacement questionnaire package that
is mailed about 10 days after the reminder postcard is mailed.
Replacements are sent only to households that do not return their
questionnaire by a pre-determined date.
B. Update/Leave Operations
In geographic areas without street names and/or house number
addresses (e.g. post office box, rural route, etc.), the census uses an
Update/Leave (U/L) enumeration methodology. Enumerators canvass the
blocks in their assignment areas, update the address lists and census
maps, determine if the housing unit is either a duplicate or
nonexistent and should be deleted, and leave addressed census
questionnaires at each unit. They also prepare and drop off
questionnaires at any added housing units that they find in their
assignment areas not showing on existing census address lists.
Residents are expected to complete the questionnaire and mail it back
to the Census Bureau. An enumerator will visit those who do not return
a questionnaire after April 2010 to obtain the information.
C. Update/Enumerate Operations
1. Update/Enumerate (U/E): Update/Enumerate is a method of data
collection conducted in communities with special enumeration needs and
where mailing addresses of many housing units do not contain house
numbers and/or street names. These communities may include selected
American Indian reservations and colonias (small, usually rural
Spanish-speaking communities). These communities often lack basic
physical infrastructure elements such as running water, paved streets
and approved sewage systems. U/E also will be implemented in resort
areas with high concentrations of seasonally vacant living quarters.
Enumerators will canvass assignment areas to update residential
addresses by adding new ones or deleting those not found, update Census
Bureau maps, and complete a questionnaire for each housing unit. Each
housing unit will be classified as occupied, vacant, or delete.
2. Remote Update Enumerate (RU/E): Remote Update Enumerate is
performed similarly to Update/Enumerate (U/E) but in designated remote
U/E targeted enumeration areas. Areas include communities that are
sparsely populated with an estimated 6,500 or fewer housing units,
group quarters, transient locations, and service-based enumerations, as
applicable. These areas are not included in the Local Update of Census
Addresses (LUCA) program and will not have their address lists updated
in the Address Canvass operation.
3. Remote Alaska (RA): The remote areas of Alaska will be
enumerated using the Update/Enumerate method. Remote Alaska is
identified as Wade Hampton, the Seward Peninsula, the Aleutian Chain,
and the Arctic/North Slope. Outlying or remote communities in Alaska
range from a few people to several hundred. Roads rarely exist to
connect the outlying communities. Most of these small communities are
accessible only by small engine aircraft, snowmobiles, four-wheel drive
vehicles, dog sled or a combination thereof. Due to the sequential
timing of the spring thaw across Alaska, we will begin the remote
enumeration earlier in January before the thaw begins when conditions
are most favorable. Once the thaw begins, the population leaves to fish
and hunt.
D. Enumeration at Transitory Locations (ETL) Operations
The ETL field operation enumerates individuals who do not have a
Usual Home Elsewhere, or UHE, that are staying at transitory locations
at the time of enumeration. Transitory locations include RV parks,
campgrounds, hotels, motels (including those on military sites),
marinas, racetracks, circuses, and carnivals. During the operation,
enumerators conduct interviews using a paper questionnaire.
E. Be Counted Program and Questionnaire Assistance Centers
1. Be Counted (BC) Program: The Be Counted program is designed for
persons who believe they were not counted in the 2010 Census. The
Census Bureau will place unaddressed census questionnaires at selected
public sites that are easily accessible and frequented by large numbers
of people. The BC questionnaires will be printed in Chinese, English,
Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese languages. They will contain
the mailout/mailback style questions, along with additional questions
needed to process and match the forms to the census address file.
2. Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QAC): These are ``walk-in''
community locations where residents are provided assistance in
completing their census questionnaire, help with overcoming language
barriers, and provided with answers to general questions about the
census. Residents can pick up Be Counted questionnaires if they've
misplaced the original questionnaire was which mailed to the residence.
Residents will be able to locate a QAC by contacting a Census Bureau
local census office.
F. Group Quarters (GQ) Operations
1. Group Quarters Advance Visit (GQAV): The GQAV operation informs
the GQ contact person of the upcoming GQ enumeration, addresses privacy
and confidentiality concerns relating to personal identifiable
information, and identifies any security issues, such as restricted
access, required credentials, etc. Crew leaders visit all GQs and
conduct an interview with the designated contact person to verify the
GQ name, address, contact name and phone number, and obtain an agreed
upon date and time to conduct the enumeration and an expected Census
Day population. The information collected during the interview is used
to prepare the correct amount of census materials needed to conduct the
enumeration at the facility.
2. Group Quarters Enumeration (GQE): The GQE operation will be
conducted at the Group Quarters on the date agreed upon during the
Advance Visit. During the GQE, three different enumeration methods can
be used to enumerate the population: (1) Interview residents in group
quarters like soup kitchens; (2) distribute questionnaire packets for
residents in colleges and universities to complete; and (3) use
administrative records in places where it is disruptive or unsafe for
Census personnel such as prisons. Enumerators will visit group quarters
to develop a control list of all residents and distribute census
questionnaires (Individual Census Reports or ICRs) for residents to
complete, interview the residents and enter the data on the ICR, or use
administrative records to complete the ICR. Enumerators collect and
review completed ICRs to ensure that they are complete and legible.
They
[[Page 15980]]
will also complete an ICR for any resident on the control list who did
not complete one.
3. Service-Based Enumeration (SBE): The SBE is designed to
enumerate people experiencing homelessness and who may otherwise be
missed during the enumeration of housing units and group quarters.
People are enumerated at places where they receive services and at
targeted non-sheltered outdoor locations. SBE locations likely will
include shelters for people experiencing homelessness (emergency and
transitional shelters, and hotels and motels providing shelter for
people experiencing homelessness), domestic violence shelters, soup
kitchens, regularly scheduled mobile food van stops, and targeted non-
sheltered outdoor locations. This operation is conducted to provide an
opportunity for people experiencing homelessness to be included in the
census.
4. Military Group Quarters Enumeration: Military Group Quarters
Enumeration is a special component of the GQE designed to enumerate
military personnel assigned to barracks, dormitories, military
treatment facilities, and disciplinary barracks and jails. Military
Census Reports (MCRs) are distributed to the residents of the military
facilities. (Military families living in housing units on bases are
enumerated using the mailout/mailback methodology.) For people living
or staying in Military GQs, the Census Bureau provides enumeration
procedures, training, and questionnaires to military personnel on the
base who then conduct the actual enumeration. During the military
enumeration, designated base personnel distribute census questionnaires
to all military personnel assigned to the GQs, including all people in
disciplinary barracks and jails. Within a few days, base personnel
collect the completed questionnaires, obtaining census information for
any missing cases. Census staffs return to the base to collect the
completed questionnaires.
5. Domestic Military/Maritime Vessels Enumerations (MMVE): The MMVE
is a special component of Group Quarters Enumeration designed to
enumerate people residing on U.S. military ships or on maritime vessels
in operation at the time of the census. This is also sometimes called
``Shipboard Enumeration.'' The MMVE uses questionnaires, which are
distributed to every Navy and Coast Guard vessel home-ported in the
United States and to U.S.-owned and operated flagged vessels used for
commercial and non-combatant government purposes. The Census Bureau
provides enumeration procedures, training, and questionnaires to
personnel on the vessels who then conduct the actual enumeration.
Designated vessel personnel distribute the census questionnaires to
those living on the vessels, collect the completed questionnaires, and
mail them to a Census Processing Office using a prepaid envelope.
G. Non-Response Follow-up Operations
1. Non-Response Follow-up (NRFU): In mid-April 2010, the Census
Bureau will begin identifying the addresses from the mailed-back
returns for which we have not received a response, and create
enumerator assignments to be used for collecting information from non-
respondent households. Beginning early May, enumerators will visit
every address for which a household did not respond and complete a
census questionnaire for them. Enumerators also will complete a census
questionnaire for any household or housing unit they discover that is
not shown on the assignment list within their particular assignment
area. Housing units will be classified as occupied, vacant, or delete.
Enumerator assignments will be updated daily to remove addresses for
late mail returns to avoid unnecessary visits to households.
2. Non-Response Follow-up Reinterview (NRFU RI): NRFU RI is a
quality assurance operation on the actual NRFU field operation. It is
designed to: (1) Ensure that the enumerator correctly followed the NRFU
field procedures, and (2) identify enumerators who intentionally or
unintentionally produced data errors. A sample of households in an
assignment area will be contacted again, in person or by telephone, by
an independent separate staff of Census enumerators. Enumerators will
re-ask certain questions and compare the answers to the original
questionnaire. This will confirm that the enumerator visited the
correct address and that the original questionnaire was completed
accurately.
3. Vacant/Delete Check (VDC) Field Operation: The VDC operation is
an independent followup of selected addresses that are classified as
vacant or nonexistent during Non-response Follow-up. These addresses
are assigned to a different enumerator than the enumerator who made the
original classification. Enumerators will verify the Census Day (April
1, 2010) status of the assigned addresses and complete a census
questionnaire for all VDC cases. In cases where a housing unit looks
visibly demolished, the enumerator must conduct an interview with a
proxy respondent (e.g., neighbor or mailman) to confirm that the
address did not exist on Census Day. If the housing unit looks
occupied, the interview will be conducted with the household member to
confirm the unit's status on Census Day. Although the VDC workload is
comprised of only vacant and nonexistent cases from NRFU, the VDC
enumerator may determine that a case is vacant, nonexistent, or
occupied.
H. Counting Americans Overseas Operations
The Federally-Affiliated Americans Overseas Count operation obtains
counts from the administrative records of Federal agencies of U.S.
military and Federal civilian employees stationed overseas and their
dependents living with them as of April 1, 2010. These counts are
allocated to a home state for the purposes of reapportioning seats in
the U.S. House of Representatives; they are not included in sub-state
allocations or redistricting. Federally-affiliated Americans living
overseas and their dependents living with them are reported by the
employing departments and agencies if they have a designated home state
in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia. If they do not
have a designated home state, they will not be included in the final
published Summary File of population data or apportioned to any state.
Other private U.S. citizens living abroad and crews of merchant ships
engaged in foreign transportation are not included in the overseas
count.
I. Telephone Questionnaire Assistance and Fulfillment Operation
1. Telephone Questionnaire Assistance (TQA): Toll-free telephone
numbers (printed on mailback questionnaires) are provided for
respondents to obtain information about the 2010 Census in support of
data collection activities. Staffers will answer questions about the
census questionnaire so that respondents can complete it and mail it
back, take an interview over the phone, assist respondents who have
difficulty reading or understanding the questionnaire, and accept
requests for language guides and questionnaires.
2. Questionnaire Fulfillment: When respondents call TQA for forms,
staffers will fulfill their requests by mailing census questionnaires
in Chinese, English, Korean, Russian, Spanish, or Vietnamese languages.
Language assistance guides will be developed in over 50 different
languages and be made available to respondents who contact TQA, or can
be downloaded from the Internet.
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J. Field Verification
For Be Counted questionnaires that do not possess a Master Address
File identification number, the Census Bureau will send enumerators out
into the field to verify the existence of those housing units that were
assigned to a census block, but did not match an address in the Master
Address File.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607-0919.
Form Numbers:
Letters:
D-5(L), Advance Letter (English, Spanish).
D-10(L), Cover Letter for Be Counted Questionnaire (Multilanguage).
D-16(L), Cover Letter for Mailback Questionnaire (Multilanguage).
D-17(L), Cover Letter for Replacement Mailing.
D-25(L), Shipboard Reminder Letter.
D-36(L), Shipboard 2nd Reminder Letter.
D-47(L) PR, Letter to Shipmaster for American Flag Vessels.
D-48(L), Letter to Shipboard Operators.
D-55(L), Cover Letter for Overseas Personnel and Dependents Counts by
State of Residence.
D-350(L), GQ Access Letter.
Questionnaires:
D-1, Census Questionnaire (Multilanguage).
D-10, Be Counted (Multilanguage).
D-15, Enumeration of Transitory Locations (English, Spanish).
D-20, Individual Census Report (English, Spanish).
D-21, Military Census Report.
D-23, Shipboard Census Report.
D-351, Group Quarters Validation.
Postcard:
D-9, Reminder Postcard (English, Spanish).
Notices:
D-26, Notice of Visit--Puerto Rico (English, Spanish).
D-31, Privacy Act Notice--Puerto Rico (English, Spanish).
Electronic Data Collection Instrument:
D-1302I, Coverage Follow-Up Telephone Interview Instrument (English,
Spanish).
D-1400I, TQA Telephone Interview Instrument (English, Spanish).
D-1500I, Nonresponse Followup Instrument (English, Spanish).
D-1501I, NRFU Reinterview Instrument (English, Spanish).
D-1502I, NRFU Vacant Delete Check Instrument (English, Spanish).
Type of Review: Regular Submission.
Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
Estimated Number of Respondents (Stateside and Puerto Rico (PR)):
Short form 133,700,000 households; Reinterview--2,100,000 households.
Estimated Time Per Response: Short Form--10 minutes; Reinterview--
10 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Short Form--22,283,333 hours;
Reinterview--350,000 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $0.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 141 and 193.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.
Dated: March 20, 2008.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-6047 Filed 3-25-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P