[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 211 (Tuesday, November 3, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56820-56822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26423]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket Number 090429803-91272-02]


Procedures for Participating in the 2010 Decennial Census New 
Construction Program

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) publishes this notice 
to announce the final procedures for the New Construction Program, 
which allows tribal and local governments to submit lists of addresses 
for newly constructed housing units to the Census Bureau. The purpose 
of this program is to ensure that the Census Bureau's address list is 
as complete and accurate as possible for the conduct of the decennial 
census on April 1, 2010. This notice also summarizes the comments 
received on the July 1, 2009, Federal Register notice (74 FR 31405) 
requesting comments on the proposed 2010 Census New Construction 
Program and the response of the Census Bureau.
    Electronic availability: This notice is available on the Internet 
from the Census Bureau's Web site at http://www.census.gov/.

DATES: These New Construction procedures, which reflect revisions based 
on public comment following publication of draft procedures, will be 
implemented on November 3, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Correspondence concerning the 2010 Census New Construction 
Program in general should be submitted to Arnold A. Jackson, Associate 
Director for Decennial Census, U.S. Census Bureau, through one of the 
following methods:
    FAX: Correspondence may be faxed to (301) 763-8867.
    E-mail: Correspondence may be e-mailed to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about the 
Census Bureau's 2010 Census New Construction Program, contact Timothy 
F. Trainor, Chief, Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, through one 
of the following methods:
    FAX: Correspondence may be faxed to (301) 763-4710.
    E-mail: Correspondence may be e-mailed to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of its objective to produce a 
complete and accurate population count, the Census Bureau will 
implement the 2010 Decennial Census New Construction Program to capture 
the addresses of newly constructed housing units. Specifically, the 
purpose of this program is to utilize tribal and local knowledge of 
recent and in-progress construction to identify, and add to the census 
address list, the addresses for housing units not yet existent at the 
time of the Address Canvassing Operation. Address Canvassing was a 
nationwide check of addresses that was completed during the spring/
summer of 2009 in which the Census Bureau verified the census address 
list that will be used to deliver questionnaires for the 2010 Decennial 
Census. During address canvassing, census workers systematically 
canvassed all census blocks looking for living quarters and added, 
deleted, and corrected entries on the census address list to ensure its 
completeness and accuracy. In order to account for any housing units of 
which the construction began after the start of the Address Canvassing 
Operation, the Census Bureau will implement the New Construction 
Program.
    The 2010 Decennial Census New Construction Program is conducted by 
the Census Bureau under the authority of Title 13, United States Code, 
Section 141(a), and is separate and distinct from the Local Update of 
Census Addresses Program (see 73 FR 12369) in that its only purpose is 
to identify addresses for housing units newly constructed (starting in 
March 2009) that are expected to be closed to the elements (final roof, 
windows, and doors) by Census Day, April 1, 2010. The New Construction 
Program was conducted for the first time as part of Census 2000.

Summary of Comments Received in Response to the Proposed New 
Construction Program

    On July 1, 2009, the Census Bureau issued a Federal Register notice 
(74 FR

[[Page 56821]]

31405) requesting comments on the proposed 2010 Census New Construction 
Program. Four sets of comments on the proposal were received during the 
comment period. This notice issues final procedures that incorporate 
changes made as a result of the comments received.
    A summary of the public comments and the response of the Census 
Bureau are provided below:
    Commenter 1. The commenter suggested that the Census Bureau state 
its support for local governments to receive external assistance from 
nonprofit organizations or commercial firms in the form of 
philanthropic support and external expertise to participate fully in 
the New Construction Program. Commenter 1 also recommended that the New 
Construction Program be expanded to include all additional addresses 
that may be captured from commercially available sources (rather than 
confined to those newly constructed after the Address Canvassing 
Operation) OR that communities determined to be hard-to-count as 
determined by the Census 2000 Tract Level Planning Database be allowed 
to submit additional addresses sourced from commercial data for review 
in a separate program.
    Response 1. The Census Bureau acknowledges the first suggestion and 
encourages governmental participants to leverage any non-governmental 
partnerships that will help them identify the address for newly 
constructed housing units. The Census Bureau did not adopt the second 
recommendation regarding which addresses to accept in the New 
Construction Program or the proposed separate new program for the final 
procedures. The Census Bureau leaves it to New Construction Program 
participants to identify newly constructed addresses from any source 
available, commercial or administrative. The Census Bureau confines the 
New Construction Program to the submission of newly constructed 
addresses (rather than allowing the submission of any address that may 
have been missed in the LUCA Program) because after the review phase of 
the LUCA Program, the Census Bureau conducted a nationwide field check 
of the census address list in the Address Canvassing Operation to bring 
the list up to date from the time the LUCA Program ended. To allow 
participants (who do not have access to the census address list as part 
of the New Construction Program) to add any address regardless of its 
construction date increases the risk of address duplication and costly 
and unnecessary field work. The successive operations to assure the 
completeness of the census address list (the LUCA Program, Address 
Canvassing, the New Construction Program, updates from the United 
States Postal Service's list of delivery addresses close to Census Day, 
and an address list update at the time of questionnaire delivery for 
areas where census staff deliver the questionnaires) in combination are 
designed to provide an address list that is as complete and accurate as 
possible.
    Commenter 2. The commenter recommended that the New Construction 
Program be open to state governments in addition to tribal and local 
governments.
    Response 2. The Census Bureau did not adopt this recommendation for 
the final procedures because most state governments are not likely to 
have current, on-the-ground knowledge of construction recently 
completed or in progress. Nonetheless, local governments wishing to 
enlist their state governments to assist are free to do so or can 
indicate to the Census Bureau that their New Construction materials 
should be sent to a state contact.
    Commenter 3. The commenter recommended that New Construction 
Program participants be permitted to submit addresses for housing units 
constructed prior to March 2009, believing that there is no mechanism 
for participants to identify addresses for units constructed after the 
end of the LUCA Program but prior to the New Construction Program.
    Response 3. The Census Bureau did not accept this recommendation 
for the final procedures. In the Address Canvassing Operation, 
conducted in the spring and summer of 2009, field staff canvassed 
blocks nationwide, adding any addresses that were missing from the 
census address list. The New Construction Program is designed to allow 
tribal and local governments to identify addresses for housing units 
constructed between the end of the Address Canvassing Operation and 
Census Day. Governments that participated in the LUCA Program will 
receive feedback on the results of the Address Canvassing for their 
areas; they may appeal the non-acceptance of any addresses they offered 
as adds to the census address list as well as any addresses deleted 
from the address list in the Address Canvassing Operation.
    Commenter 4. The commenter noted that the proposal for the New 
Construction Program lacked a reference to the phenomenon of ``hidden'' 
or hard-to-find housing units, and that not just governments but other 
interested partners should be involved in identifying them.
    Response 4. To the extent that the units meet the Census Bureau's 
definition for a housing unit\1\ and are in mail-out/mail-back areas, 
have locatable city style addresses, and are a result of construction 
occurring between March 2009 and April 1, 2010, they can be submitted 
as part of the New Construction Program. The Census Bureau encourages 
governmental participants to leverage any non-governmental partnerships 
that will help them identify the addresses for newly constructed 
housing units.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home or 
trailer, a group of rooms, or a single room occupied as a separate 
living quarters, or if vacant, intended for occupancy as separate 
living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the 
occupants live separately from any other individuals in the building 
and which have direct access from outside the building or through a 
common hall. For vacant units, the criteria of separateness and 
direct access are applied to the intended occupants whenever 
possible.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2010 Decennial Census New Construction Program

    The 2010 Census New Construction Program is offered to Federally 
Recognized American Indian tribal governments with reservations and/or 
trust lands and local governments (counties, incorporated places, and 
functioning minor civil divisions) that include areas where the Census 
Bureau will deliver the census questionnaires by mail. For other areas, 
Census Bureau enumerators will hand deliver the census questionnaires 
to all housing units in each block, including any newly constructed 
units not already on the census address list. Tribal and local 
governments that wish to participate in the program will be invited to 
submit a list of addresses of newly constructed housing units for 
inclusion in the Census Address List. The address list submitted by New 
Construction Program participants must only include addresses for 
housing units for which construction began during or after March 2009 
that are expected to be closed to the elements (final roof, windows, 
and doors) by Census Day, April 1, 2010. No street or boundary updates 
will be accepted by the New Construction Program.
    The New Construction Program will not accept additions of Group 
Quarters addresses. Group Quarters addresses are defined as places 
where people live or stay in a group living arrangement that is owned 
or managed by an entity or organization providing housing and/or 
services for the residents. The Census Bureau has programs that are 
specifically designed to capture new Group Quarters addresses, 
including but not limited to, Group Quarters

[[Page 56822]]

Validation, Group Quarters Advanced Visit, Group Quarters Enumeration, 
and the Count Review program.
    The maps or spatial data that the Census Bureau provides to New 
Construction Program participants are for use as a reference for 
assigning census tract and block codes (geocoding) for each submitted 
address. The maps are offered in Portable Document Format (PDF) and 
spatial data are available from TIGER[supreg] in shapefile format that 
requires a Geographic Information System (GIS) software application for 
viewing.
    For governments choosing maps in PDF, the Census Bureau will 
provide Adobe[supreg] Reader[supreg] software to view the PDF maps. For 
those participants who choose to use shapefiles, the Census Bureau will 
provide the MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS) to enter addresses 
and output them in the prescribed format. The MTPS is an easy-to-use 
desktop tool that makes participation easier for governments without a 
GIS system. The MTPS also provides map-viewing capability when used 
with the shapefiles provided by the Census Bureau. However, 
participants may use their own software to create a computer readable 
list of addresses in the prescribed format.
    The Census Bureau will send out New Construction materials to 
registered participants during November 2009 through January 2010. The 
PDF package will contain the following:

(1) The New Construction Quick Start Document
(2) The New Construction User Guide
(3) The New Construction Address List Template
(4) Zip Software
(5) CD Readme.txt File
(6) PDF Software (Adobe[supreg] Reader[supreg])
(7) New Construction Map PDFs

    The MTPS/Shapefile package will contain the following:

(1) The New Construction Quick Start Document
(2) The New Construction User Guide
(3) The New Construction MTPS User Guide
(4) The New Construction Address List Template
(5) Zip Software
(6) CD Readme.txt File
(7) MTPS Software
(8) Shapefiles

    Participants must submit their New Construction address lists to 
the Census Bureau within forty-five (45) calendar days after receipt of 
the New Construction materials. ``Receipt'' as used herein is defined 
as the delivery date reported to the Census Bureau by the delivery 
service that delivers the New Construction materials to the eligible 
government. The New Construction addresses must be returned in the 
Census Bureau's predefined format and each address must be ``geocoded'' 
or assigned to the census tract and block in which it is located as 
shown on the New Construction census maps (PDF or shapefiles).
    Files that are submitted in the proper format are compared against 
the Census Bureau's Master Address File to check for any addresses 
already on the list. The Census Bureau, using the participant supplied 
addresses, will visit and attempt to enumerate each newly constructed 
housing unit that has been identified as missing from our list. The 
census enumeration process will determine the final housing unit status 
and population for each new unit.

Classification

Executive Order 12866

    This notice has been determined to not be significant under 
Executive Order 12866.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required 
to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure 
to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) unless that collection of 
information displays a current, valid Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) control number. In accordance with the PRA, 44 U.S.C., Chapter 
35, the Census Bureau obtained clearance for this information 
collection in October 2009 under the Generic Clearance for Geographic 
Partnership Programs (OMB Control Number 0607-0795, expires on April 
30, 2012).

    Dated October 27, 2009.
Robert M. Groves,
Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. E9-26423 Filed 11-2-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P