[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 194 (Friday, October 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50332-50334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21698]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: 2020 Census New Construction Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): NC-F-100.
    Type of request: Regular submission.
    Number of respondents: varies.
    Estimated number of respondents invited to the program: 32,000.
    Estimated number of respondents who review the materials: 6,550.
    Average Hours per Response: Varies.
    Program invitation: 1 hour.
    Participant material review: 47 hours.
    Burden hours: Varies.
    Program invitation: 32,000 hours.
    Participant material review: 307,850 hours.

[[Page 50333]]



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                                                                     Estimated    Estimated time       Total
                         Stage of review                             number of     per response   estimated hour
                                                                    respondents       (hours)         burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Program Invitation..............................................          32,000               1          32,000
Participant Material Review.....................................           6,550              47         307,850
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................  ..............  ..............         339,850
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Needs and Uses: The 2020 Census New Construction Program is one of 
the seven voluntary geographic partnership programs that collect 
geographic boundaries and residential addresses to update the U.S. 
Census Bureau's Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic 
Encoding and Referencing database. In order to deliver questionnaires, 
locate residences, and tabulate statistics by localities, the Census 
Bureau must have accurate addresses and boundaries. The Census Bureau 
also uses its geographic database to link demographic data from surveys 
and the decennial census to locations and areas, such as cities, 
congressional and legislative districts, and counties.
    The census block is the geographic building block for all Census 
Bureau geographic boundaries. Geographic programs such as the 
Redistricting Data Program update the boundaries of census blocks. The 
addresses collected in the 2020 Local Update of Census Addresses 
Operation (LUCA), the New Construction Program, and other geocoding 
processes place households in a specific census block.
    While the geographic programs differ in requirements, time frame, 
and participants, the New Construction Program and the other geographic 
programs all follow the same basic process:
    1. The Census Bureau invites eligible participants to the program.
    2. If they elect to participate in the program, participants 
receive program materials, in this case, respondent guides, address 
templates, spatial data in PDF or shapefile format, and/or free 
customized mapping software.
    3. Participants review the materials and submit their addresses in 
the Census Bureau's predefined format.
    4. The Census Bureau updates its address list with updates from 
participants.
    5. The Census Bureau uses its address list to conduct the 2020 
Census and tabulate statistics.
    The purpose of the New Construction Program is to account for new 
housing units, group quarters (GQs), and transitory locations for which 
construction is in progress during or after March 1, 2018 \1\ and 
completion is expected by Census Day, April 1, 2020. The Census Bureau 
collects city-style addresses for the newly built housing units, GQs, 
and transitory locations in blocks where the Census Bureau plans to 
mail the 2020 Census questionnaires and households are expected to use 
a self-response mode to complete the census.
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    \1\ In response to a public comment on the 60-Day Federal 
Register Notice (FRN), the Census Bureau will accept new addresses 
from respondents from March 1, 2018 instead of March 2019.
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    The Census Bureau conducts LUCA and the New Construction Program as 
successive partnership operations to assure the completeness and 
accuracy of the Census Bureau's address list. These operations allow 
participating governments the opportunity to provide input to improve 
the Census Bureau's address list and to ensure accurate and complete 
enumeration of their communities.
    LUCA and the New Construction Program are complementary, however, 
there is no dependency on either program for participation in the 
other.
     LUCA participants who agree to receive the address list 
for their jurisdiction receive Title 13 protected materials. 
Participants review the address list and submit their validated or 
revised address list to the Census Bureau between spring and summer 
2018.
     The Census Bureau processes and validates the LUCA updates 
using a combination of independent address sources, such as the United 
States Postal Service's list of delivery addresses or the 2020 Census 
Address Canvassing operation. Upon completion of the LUCA address 
validations by April of 2019, the Census Bureau provides address-level 
feedback to partners, allowing them to appeal any determination made by 
the Census Bureau to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) LUCA 
Appeals Office.
     In April 2019, the Census Bureau invites tribal, state, 
and local governments to designate a New Construction liaison to 
participate in the program. The Census Bureau will publish the list of 
eligible governments on the New Construction Program website by fall 
2018. Eligible governments have addresses in areas of the country where 
the Census Bureau plans for a self-response enumeration strategy. The 
addresses in these areas are primarily city-style and mailable formats. 
The Census Bureau confines the scope of the New Construction Program to 
the submission of addresses for newly constructed living quarters that 
began or will begin construction in the year leading up to the census. 
Between September and October 2019,\2\ tribal, state, and local 
governments identify addresses for housing units, GQs, and transitory 
locations for which construction is in progress during or after March 
1, 2018 and that are expected to be closed to the elements (final roof, 
windows, and doors) and therefore potentially inhabitable by Census 
Day, April 1, 2020. No other updates, including streets or boundaries, 
will be accepted.
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    \2\ The Census Bureau updates the New Construction schedule in 
the 30-Day FRN. In the previously published 60-Day FRN, participants 
were expected to complete this stage between June and August 2019.
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    Through the New Construction Program, the Census Bureau improves 
the accuracy and completeness of the address list used to conduct the 
2020 Census by utilizing the local knowledge of tribal, state, and 
local governments. The Census Address List Improvement Act of 1994 
(Pub. L. 103-430) strengthened the Census Bureau's partnership 
capabilities with participating governments by expanding the methods 
the Census Bureau uses to collect address information from 
participants.
    The New Construction Program does not provide Title 13 protected 
addresses to participants, however, when participants submit address 
data for new housing to be included in the 2020 Census, the Census 
Bureau will protect the submitted data under Title 13, U.S.C. Section 
9, which provides for the confidential treatment of census-related 
information, including individual address and structure coordinates. 
Participation in the New Construction Program is voluntary.
    The New Construction Program includes four phases:
    1. New Construction Program Invitation Phase.

[[Page 50334]]

    2. New Construction Program Participant Review Materials.
    3. New Construction Program Address Updates.
    4. Closeout.

New Construction Program Invitation Phase

    The Census Bureau will mail the New Construction Program invitation 
letter and registration form in April 2019 to approximately 32,000 
eligible participants that include federally recognized American Indian 
tribal governments with reservations and/or off-reservation trust 
lands, states, and local governments. Based on the 2010 Census New 
Construction Program, the Census Bureau estimates 6,550 out of the 
32,000 invited governments will participate. To participate, interested 
governments must designate a New Construction liaison and respond to 
the invitation package by completing and returning the registration 
form to the Census Bureau by July 19, 2019. Participants must also 
identify the format of the maps or spatial data that they wish to 
receive from the Census Bureau.
    The Census Bureau collects the registration form from the 
government that wants to participate in the program and/or the reasons 
for non participation from those who cannot participate. Additionally, 
the Census Bureau collects the contact information of the official 
responding to the New Construction invitation and the person designated 
as the liaison. To prepare and submit their list of addresses, the New 
Construction Program liaisons can opt to receive:
     The Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS) and/or 
Census Bureau spatial data (downloadable or on CD/DVD).
     Reference PDF maps on CD/DVD.
    Participants may also use their own software to create a computer-
readable list of addresses in the prescribed format. Participants use 
the Census Bureau provided maps or spatial data as a reference for 
assigning census tract and block codes (geocodes) for each submitted 
address. The estimated time burden for the invitation stage is one hour 
per participant.

New Construction Program Participant Review Materials

    In September 2019, the Census Bureau will deliver review materials 
to registered governments. New Construction liaisons will receive the 
materials in the format that they selected on the registration form. 
Participating governments are required to submit full address data for 
qualifying structures, including individual unit numbers for multiunit 
structures (e.g., Apt. 1, Apt. 2, Unit 1, and Unit 2), and geographic 
information such as the census tract and block numbers, or geographic 
coordinates.
    The typical New Construction Program Participant Review Materials 
package contains the following:
     Cover Letter.
     Address List Template.
     GUPS Quick Start Guide.
     Digital Quick Start Guide.
     GUPS Digital Respondent Guide.
     Digital Respondent Guide.
     Read-me.txt file for GUPS.
     Read-me.txt file for Digital.
     Partnership Shapefiles.
    Participants must submit their New Construction Program address 
list to the Census Bureau within 45 calendar days of receipt of the New 
Construction Program review materials. The New Construction Program 
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 Program 
PDF or digital (shapefile) maps. This stage occurs in September 2019. 
The average estimated time burden to review, add, and submit the New 
Construction Program address list to the Census Bureau is 47 hours per 
participant.

New Construction Program Address Updates

    From September through November 2019, the Census Bureau processes 
all files received from participants. Files that are submitted in the 
proper format and contain addresses with complete geocoding data are 
compared with the Census Bureau's census address list, extracted from 
the Master Address File. The Census Bureau verifies whether the 
addresses received were already in the Master Address File and mails 
decennial census forms to any participant-supplied addresses that were 
not in the census address list. The census enumeration process 
determines the final housing unit status and population for each unit.

Closeout

    The Census Bureau provides a closeout email to governments that 
registered to participate and provided updates. Participating 
governments will not receive detailed feedback from the Census Bureau. 
In addition, the Census Bureau sends a thank you email or letter to 
governments that provided updates after the deadline. This 
documentation notifies them of the receipt of their submission but also 
informs the governments that the Census Bureau cannot use the 
submission for the New Construction Program. Closeout occurs between 
December 2019 and January 2020.
    Affected Public: Tribal, state, and local governments.
    Frequency: Once a decade.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, U.S.C., Section 141(a).
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-21698 Filed 10-4-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P