[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 197 (Thursday, October 11, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61780-61781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24960]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Preparation of the 2013 American Indian Population and Labor 
Force Report

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Informational Sessions and Tribal Consultation 
Sessions.

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SUMMARY: Indian Affairs will conduct two informational sessions and 
four leader-to-leader sessions with Indian tribes to obtain oral and 
written comments concerning preparation of the 2013 American Indian 
Population and Labor Force Report.

DATES: Written comments are due November 12, 2012. See the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice for dates of the 
information sessions and leader-to-leader consultation sessions.

ADDRESSES: See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice for 
the locations of the informational sessions and leader-to-leader 
consultation sessions. Submit comments by email to: 
[email protected] or by U.S. mail to: Office of the Assistant 
Secretary--Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, attn: 
Steven Payson, Mail Stop 4141 MIB, 1849 C Street NW., Washington, DC 
20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further technical information 
regarding preparation of the 2013 Labor Force Report, please contact 
Steven Payson, Economist, Office of the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs, at (202) 513-7745. For all other information, please contact 
Mr. Jonodev Chaudhuri, Counselor to the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs, at (202) 208-7613.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Indian Affairs will conduct two 
informational sessions and four leader-to-leader sessions with Indian 
tribes to obtain oral and written comments concerning preparation of 
the 2013 American Indian Population and Labor Force Report.
    Informational sessions. Two information sessions on this topic will 
be held to coincide with the Alaska Federation of Natives Conference 
and National Congress of American Indians Convention. In addition to an 
exchange of information, we welcome informal comments during the two 
informational sessions.
     Annual Alaska Federation of Natives Conference, Room 
3, second floor at the Dena'ina Center, 600 W. 7th Avenue, 
Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday, October 20, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon 
AKST (a teleconference line will be available for this informational 
session and can be accessed at (866) 723-7478, and with participant 
code 1572466.
     National Congress of American Indians 69th Annual 
Convention, in Room 305 at the Sacramento Convention Center, 
1400 J Street, Sacramento, California, on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 
from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. PST.
    Leader-to-leader consultation sessions. As part of our consultation 
efforts, we will be hosting four leader-to-leader sessions--three in-
person sessions and one session via national conference. The four 
leader-to-leader sessions will build upon the informational sessions 
and focus on leader-to-leader dialogue. We will develop a transcript 
for the following leader-to-leader sessions.
     Monday, October 29, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST--in 
the Hilton Garden Inn located at 801 South Meridian, Oklahoma City, 
Oklahoma. You may contact the hotel at (405) 942-1400.
     Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. MST--at the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs' Western Regional office in the fourth floor 
Eagle and Buffalo Rooms located at 2600 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, 
Arizona. Signs will be posted in the lobby and on the fourth floor. The 
Regional Director's Office will validate parking for the garage located 
directly behind 2600 North Central Avenue.
     Thursday, November 1, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. MST--
Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza 505 North 5th Street, Rapid City, South 
Dakota. The Holiday Inn will provide a block of rooms for a limited 
time. You may contact the hotel at (605) 348-4000.
     Friday, November 9, 2012, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST at 
(877) 716-4290, and with participant code 5074051. For any technical 
assistance during the national call, please contact (202) 208-7163.

Background

    Accurate information on the population and employment levels of 
tribes is critically important for understanding the social and 
economic circumstances that tribes face and identifying the best 
policies and strategies for promoting economic development in Indian 
Country. Congress recognized this importance in the Indian Employment, 
Training, and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992, as amended, 
(Pub. L. 102-477, Sec.  17), by requiring the Department of the 
Interior to publish, at least once every two years, the American Indian 
Population and Labor Force Report. The Act specifically requires:

    [A] report on the population, by gender, eligible for the 
services which the Secretary provides to Indian people. The report 
shall include, but is not limited to, information at the national 
level by State, Bureau of Indian Affairs Service Area, and tribal 
level for the--
    (1) total service population;
    (2) the service population under age 16 and over 64;
    (3) the population available for work, including those not 
considered to be actively seeking work;
    (4) the employed population, including those employed with 
annual earnings below the poverty line; and
    (5) the numbers employed in private sector positions and in 
public sector positions.

    The Department is expected to produce the next American Indian 
Population and Labor Force Report in 2013. In preparation, the 
Department would like tribes' input on the questions regarding how to 
define certain terms and how best to obtain the information required by 
the Act. In the past, Interior has obtained the Labor Force Report 
information required by the Act by surveying Tribes. Another option to 
obtain this data would be to acquire it from the U.S. Census Bureau. We 
are seeking Tribes' input on these options for collecting data, and 
other issues, including:
    (1) To what extent do you have the above-listed population and 
employment information readily available to respond to a survey?
    (2) Would you be willing to respond to such a survey?
    (3) Is there other information, beyond that which is specifically 
required by the Act, that you would be willing to provide in a survey, 
if the information will help federal or Tribal programming?
    (4) Should Interior use information from the Census Bureau to 
answer the questions for the report? If so, what kind of information 
should be acquired from the Census Bureau's published statistics? If 
not, is it a matter of the

[[Page 61781]]

availability of the Census Bureau's statistics or a matter of their 
accuracy (or both)?
    (5) If Interior can obtain all of the information needed for the 
report from the Census Bureau, should it still conduct a survey to ask 
Tribes for this or other information?
    (6) Regardless of whether Interior uses a survey or Census Bureau 
data for future reports, Interior is considering using information from 
the Census Bureau, rather than a survey, for the 2013 report to meet 
the 2013 deadline. What are your views on this approach?
    (7) Are there other options for obtaining this information that 
Interior should consider?
    (8) How should ``service population'' by the ``Tribal level'' be 
defined for this report? For example:
    (a) Should it include individuals in the Tribe's general location, 
or should it include individuals enrolled in the Tribe who may not be 
in the Tribe's location but may still be eligible for services?
    (b) If people are in an area where they may receive services from 
more than one Tribe, should they be counted only as in the service 
population of the Tribe in which they are enrolled?
    (c) Should service population be measured in terms of geography as 
opposed to Tribal enrollment?

    Dated: September 28, 2012.
Donald E. Laverdure,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2012-24960 Filed 10-10-12; 8:45 am]
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