[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

[[Page 15979]]

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.

[[Page 15981]]

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