Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 80317-80319 [2015-32374]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 247 / Thursday, December 24, 2015 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
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 (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Boundary and Annexation
Survey (BAS).
OMB Control Number: 0607–0151.
Form Number(s): BAS 1, BAS 2, BAS
3, BAS 5, BAS 6. BASSC.
Type of Request: Regular Submission.
Number of Respondents: 86,555.
Annual Response Notification:
39,400.
No Change Response: 25,000.
Telephone Follow-up: 14,000.
Packages with Changes: 5,000.
State Certification Review: 49.
State Certification Local Review:
1,000.
Boundary Quality Assessment
Reconciliation Project (BQARP): 16.
Redistricting Data Program (RDP)
Reconciliation State Review: 50.
RDP Reconciliation Local Review:
2,000.
Research Projects: 40.
Average Hours per Response: Varies.
Annual Response Notification: 30
minutes.
No Change Response: 4 hours.
Telephone Follow-up: 30 minutes.
Packages with Changes: 8 hours.
State Certification Review: 10 hours.
State Certification Local Review: 2
hours.
BQARP: 25 hours.
RDP Reconciliation State Review: 20
hours.
RDP Reconciliation Local Review: 2
hours.
Research Projects: 3 hours.
Burden Hours: 174,710.
Annual Response Notification:
19,700.
No Change Response: 100,000.
Telephone Follow-up: 7,000.
Packages with Changes: 40,000.
State Certification Review: 490.
State Certification Local Review:
2,000.
BQARP: 400.
RDP Reconciliation State Review:
1,000.
RDP Reconciliation Local Review:
4,000.
Research Projects: 120.
Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau
conducts the BAS to collect and
maintain information about the
inventory of legal boundaries and legal
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Jkt 238001
actions affecting the boundaries of
counties and equivalent entities,
incorporated places, minor civil
divisions (MCDs), and federally
recognized legal American Indian and
Alaska Native areas. This information
provides an accurate identification of
geographic areas for the Census Bureau
to use in conducting the Decennial and
Economic Censuses and ongoing
surveys, preparing population estimates,
and supporting other statistical
programs of the Census Bureau and the
legislative programs of the Federal
government.
Through the BAS, the Census Bureau
asks each government to review
materials for its jurisdiction to verify the
correctness of the information
portrayed. The Census Bureau requests
that each government update their
boundaries, supply information
documenting each legal boundary
change, and provide changes in the
inventory of governments. The Census
Bureau has a national implementation
of the BAS, but each state’s laws are
reviewed for inclusion in the processing
procedures. In addition, if it comes to
the Census Bureau’s attention that an
area of non-tribal land is in dispute
between two or more jurisdictions, the
Census Bureau will not make
annexations or boundary corrections
until the parties come to a written
agreement, or there is a documented
final court decision regarding the matter
and/or dispute. If there is a dispute over
an area of tribal land, the Census Bureau
will not make additions or boundary
corrections until supporting documents
are provided, or the U.S. Department of
the Interior issues a comment. If
necessary, the Census Bureau will
request clarification regarding current
boundaries, particularly if supporting
documentation pre-dates 1990, from the
U.S. Department of the Interior, Office
of the Solicitor.
The BAS universe and mailing
materials vary depending both upon the
needs of the Census Bureau in fulfilling
its censuses and household surveys and
upon budget constraints.
Counties or equivalent entities,
federally recognized American Indian
reservations (AIRs), Off-Reservation
Trust Lands (ORTLs), and Tribal
Subdivisions are included in every
survey.
In the years ending in 8, 9 and 0, the
BAS includes all governmentally active
counties and equivalent entities,
incorporated places, legally defined
MCDs, and legally defined federally
recognized American Indian and Alaska
Native areas (including the Alaska
Native Regional Corporations). Each
governmental entity surveyed will
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80317
receive materials covering its
jurisdiction and one or more forms.
These three years coincide with the
Census Bureau’s preparation for the
Decennial Census. There are fewer than
40,000 governments in the universe
each year.
In all other years, the BAS reporting
universe includes all legally defined
federally recognized American Indian
and Alaska Native areas, all
governmental counties and equivalent
entities, MCDs in the six New England
States (Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, and Vermont), and those
incorporated places that have a
population of 2,500 or greater. The
reporting universe is approximately
14,000 governments due to budget
constraints at the Census Bureau. The
Census Bureau only follows up on a
subset of governments designated as the
reporting universe.
In the years ending in 1 through 7, the
Census Bureau may enter into
agreements with individual states to
modify the universe of MCDs and/or
incorporated places to include
additional entities that are known by
that state to have had boundary changes,
without regard to population size. Each
year, the BAS will also include a single
respondent request for municipio,
barrio, barrio-pueblo, and subbarrio
boundary and status information in
Puerto Rico and Hawaiian Homeland
boundary and status information in
Hawaii.
In the years ending in 6 through 9,
state participants in the RDP may
request coordination between the BAS
and RDP submissions for the Block
Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP)
and Voting District Project (VTDP). The
alignment of the BAS with the BBSP
and VTDP will facilitate increased
cooperation between state and local
governments and provide the
opportunity to align their effort with
updates from state and local government
officials participating in the BAS.
No other Federal agency collects these
data, nor is there a standard collection
of this information at the state level.
BAS is a unique survey providing a
standard result for use by federal, state,
local, and tribal governments and by
commercial, private, and public
organizations.
The Census Bureau has developed
and continues to use several methods to
collect information on status and
updates for legal boundaries. These
methods are:
• State Certification
• Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU)
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80318
•
•
•
•
•
•
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 247 / Thursday, December 24, 2015 / Notices
Consolidation Agreements
Annual Response
Paper BAS
Digital BAS
BQARP
Research Projects
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State Certification
Through the BAS State Certification
program, the Census Bureau invites the
Governor-appointed State Certifying
Official (SCO) from each state to review
the boundary and governmental unit
information collected during the
previous BAS cycle. The purpose of the
State Certification program is to verify
the accuracy and validate the BAS
information with state governments for
incorporated places received from the
previous BAS cycle. The Census Bureau
requests the SCOs review data files,
including the attribute data, legal
boundary changes, as well as the legal
names and functional statuses of
incorporated places and MCDs, and any
new incorporations or disincorporations
reported through the BAS. A SCO may
request that the Census Bureau edit the
attribute data, add missing records, or
remove invalid records if their state
government maintains an official record
of all effective changes to legal
boundaries and governmental units as
mandated by state law. State
Certification packages contain a letter to
the Governor, a State Certifying Official
Letter, a Discrepancy Letter, and a State
Certification Respondent Guide.
MOU
In states with legislation requiring
local governments to report all legal
boundary updates to a state agency,
state officials may enter into a MOU
with the Census Bureau. States have the
option to report to the Census Bureau
the list of governments with known
legal boundary changes and the Census
Bureau will include in the BAS only
those governments with known
boundary changes or the state may
report the legal boundary changes
directly to the Census Bureau on behalf
of the governments. The Census Bureau
will not survey the local governments if
the state reports for them. The Census
Bureau will send a reminder email
notification to the governments
requesting them to report to the state
contact, per MOU. The MOU, as agreed
upon by the state and the Census
Bureau, will outline the terms of the
survey and reporting for governments.
Consolidation Agreements
Consolidation agreements allow state
and county government officials, in
states where there are no legislative
requirements for local governments to
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Jkt 238001
report their legal updates to the state or
county, the opportunity to reduce the
response burden for their local
governments. Under a consolidation
agreement, a state or county responds to
the BAS for the local governments that
agree to allow the state or county to
respond on their behalf. The Census
Bureau sends the BAS materials to the
state or county, as appropriate, and
sends a reminder notification to the
local government to report their updates
to their BAS consolidator.
Annual Response
Annual Response involves an
announcement email letter and a onepage form for the state and county
governments that do not have a
consolidation agreement. Through
Annual Response, county, tribal, and
local governments indicate whether
they have boundary changes to report
and provide a current contact person.
The Census Bureau requests
governments to reply online or through
email. The Annual Response method
reduces cost and respondent burden
through savings on materials and effort.
All governments receive this
notification regardless of population
size. The Census Bureau will conduct
telephone follow-up only to
governments in the reporting universe
due to budget constraints.
If a government requests materials
through Annual Response, they may
choose to download digital materials or
have the materials shipped as a
traditional paper package or digital
media types.
Paper BAS
For the traditional paper package, the
respondent completes the BAS form and
draws the boundary updates on the
maps using pencils provided in the
package. The package contains large
format maps, printed forms and
supplies to complete the survey.
The typical BAS package contains:
1. Introductory letter from the
Director of the Census Bureau;
2. Appropriate BAS Form(s) that
contains entity-specific identification
information;
a. BAS–1: Incorporated places and
consolidated cities;
b. BAS–2: Counties, parishes, and
boroughs;
c. BAS–3: MCDs;
d. BAS–5: American Indian and
Alaska Native Areas; and
e. BAS–6: Consolidated BAS
3. BAS Respondent Guide;
4. Set of maps;
5. Return postage-paid envelope to
submit boundary changes;
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6. Postcard to notify the Census
Bureau of no changes to the boundary;
and
7. Supplies for updating paper maps.
Digital BAS
Digital BAS includes options to
receive software and spatial data to
make boundary updates or to make
boundary updates electronically by
submitting a digital file. A local contact
from each government verifies the legal
boundary, and then provides boundary
changes and updated contact
information. An official signs the
materials, verifies the forms, and returns
the information to the Census Bureau.
The typical Digital BAS package
contains:
1. Introductory letter from the
Director of the Census Bureau;
2. Appropriate BAS Form(s) that
contains entity-specific identification
information;
a. BAS–1: Incorporated places and
consolidated cities;
b. BAS–2: Counties, parishes, and
boroughs;
c. BAS–3: MCDs;
d. BAS–5: American Indian and
Alaska Native Areas; and
e. BAS–6: Consolidated BAS
3. CD or DVD and software CD for
Geographic Update Partnership
Software (GUPS); and
4. Postcard to notify the Census
Bureau of no changes to the boundary.
The key dates for governments are as
follows:
1. Annual Response emailed or
mailed to the local contact in December
of each year.
2. BAS package/materials shipped
during the months of December,
January, February, March, and April of
each year.
3. Requests to change the method of
participation (i.e., paper to digital
submission and vice versa) are due by
April 15th of each year.
4. Responses for inclusion in the
American Community Survey (ACS)
and Population Estimates Program (PEP)
are due by March 1st of each year, with
an effective date of January 1st of the
year in question or earlier.
5. Responses for inclusion in the
following year’s BAS materials are due
by May 31st of each year and will
include any annexation received from
the previous or current year.
6. In year 2020, all legal
documentation for inclusion in the 2020
Census must be effective as of January
1, 2020 or earlier. All legal boundary
changes will be placed on hold and
updated during the 2021 BAS if
effective January 2, 2020 or later.
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 247 / Thursday, December 24, 2015 / Notices
mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
BQARP
To improve boundary quality in the
Census Bureau’s Master Address File/
Topologically Integrated Geographic
Encoding and Referencing (MAF/
TIGER) System, the Census Bureau is
introducing BQARP to support the BAS
program. BQARP is a project to assess,
analyze, and improve the spatial quality
of legal and administrative boundaries
within MAF/TIGER. Ensuring quality
boundaries is a critical component of
the geographic preparations for the 2020
Census and the Census Bureau’s
ongoing Geographic Partnership
Programs (GPPs) and surveys. In
addition, the improvement of boundary
quality is an essential element of the
Census Bureau’s commitment as the
responsible agency for legal boundaries
under the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Circular A–16. The goal
of BQARP is to establish a new, accurate
baseline for boundaries within an entire
state or county, which the BAS would
then continue with the collection of
annexations and deannexations on a
transaction basis as they occur over
time. The estimated work burden for
participation is 25 hours per participant.
Research Projects
BAS continues to work to improve the
survey based on feedback received from
local governments. The Census Bureau
plans to conduct two research projects
during 2016. The first research project is
for BAS form redesign for potential use
for the 2017 BAS Forms. The second
research project is to test an option for
local governments to provide a list of
addresses associated with an annexation
to continue to improve data quality in
MAF/TIGER. Participation is voluntary
for these research projects. The
estimated work burden for participation
is 3 hours per participant.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13, U.S.C.,
Section 6.
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 OIRA_Submission@
omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806.
Dated: December 18, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–32374 Filed 12–23–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A–570–905]
Polyester Staple Fiber From the
People’s Republic of China:
Rescission of Antidumping Duty
Administrative Review; 2014–2015
Enforcement and Compliance,
International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce
(the ‘‘Department’’) is rescinding the
administrative review of the
antidumping duty order on polyester
staple fiber (‘‘PSF’’) from the People’s
Republic of China (the ‘‘PRC’’) for the
period of review June 1, 2014, through
May 31, 2015.
DATES: Effective Date: December 24,
2015.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Javier Barrientos, AD/CVD Operations,
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance,
International Trade Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th
Street and Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington DC 20230; telephone: (202)
482–2243.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
AGENCY:
Background
On June 30, 2015, DAK Americas,
LLC (‘‘Petitioner’’) submitted a request
for administrative review of the
antidumping duty order on PSF from
the PRC for five companies.1 No other
party requested an administrative
review. On August 3, 2015, the
Department published the notice of
initiation of an administrative review of
the order for the period of review June
1, 2014, through May 31, 2015.2 On
September 8, 2015, Petitioner withdrew
its requests for review for all five
companies.3
Rescission of Review
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), the
Department will rescind an
administrative review, in whole or in
part, if the party or parties that
requested a review withdraws the
request within 90 days of the
publication date of the notice of
initiation of the requested review. As
noted above, Petitioner withdrew its
requests for administrative reviews
within 90 days of the publication date
of the notice of initiation. No other
parties requested an administrative
review of the order. Therefore, in
accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1),
we are rescinding this review in its
entirety.
Assessment
The Department will instruct U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (‘‘CBP’’)
to assess antidumping duties on all
appropriate entries of PSF from the PRC.
Antidumping duties shall be assessed at
rates equal to the cash deposit of
estimated antidumping duties required
at the time of entry, or withdrawal from
warehouse, for consumption in
accordance with 19 CFR
351.212(c)(1)(i). The Department
intends to issue appropriate assessment
instructions to CBP 15 days after the
date of publication of this notice of
rescission of administrative review.
Notifications
This notice also serves as a final
reminder to importers of their
responsibility under 19 CFR
351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate
regarding the reimbursement of
antidumping duties prior to liquidation
of the relevant entries during this
review period. Failure to comply with
this requirement could result in the
presumption that reimbursement of
antidumping duties occurred and the
subsequent assessment of doubled
antidumping duties.
This notice also serves as a final
reminder to parties subject to
administrative protective order (‘‘APO’’)
of their responsibility concerning the
return or destruction of proprietary
information disclosed under an APO in
accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3).
Timely written notification of the return
or destruction of APO materials, or
conversion to judicial protective order,
is hereby requested. Failure to comply
with the regulations and terms of an
APO is a sanctionable violation.
This notice is issued and published in
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and
777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as
amended, and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(4).
Dated: December 9, 2015.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping
and Countervailing Duty Operations.
[FR Doc. 2015–32462 Filed 12–23–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P
1 See
Petitioner’s June 30, 2015 submission.
Initiation of Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 80 FR
45947 (August 3, 2015) (‘‘Initiation Notice’’).
3 See Petitioner’s September 8, 2015 submission.
2 See
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 247 (Thursday, December 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80317-80319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32374]
[[Page 80317]]
=======================================================================
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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 (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS).
OMB Control Number: 0607-0151.
Form Number(s): BAS 1, BAS 2, BAS 3, BAS 5, BAS 6. BASSC.
Type of Request: Regular Submission.
Number of Respondents: 86,555.
Annual Response Notification: 39,400.
No Change Response: 25,000.
Telephone Follow-up: 14,000.
Packages with Changes: 5,000.
State Certification Review: 49.
State Certification Local Review: 1,000.
Boundary Quality Assessment Reconciliation Project (BQARP): 16.
Redistricting Data Program (RDP) Reconciliation State Review: 50.
RDP Reconciliation Local Review: 2,000.
Research Projects: 40.
Average Hours per Response: Varies.
Annual Response Notification: 30 minutes.
No Change Response: 4 hours.
Telephone Follow-up: 30 minutes.
Packages with Changes: 8 hours.
State Certification Review: 10 hours.
State Certification Local Review: 2 hours.
BQARP: 25 hours.
RDP Reconciliation State Review: 20 hours.
RDP Reconciliation Local Review: 2 hours.
Research Projects: 3 hours.
Burden Hours: 174,710.
Annual Response Notification: 19,700.
No Change Response: 100,000.
Telephone Follow-up: 7,000.
Packages with Changes: 40,000.
State Certification Review: 490.
State Certification Local Review: 2,000.
BQARP: 400.
RDP Reconciliation State Review: 1,000.
RDP Reconciliation Local Review: 4,000.
Research Projects: 120.
Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau conducts the BAS to collect and
maintain information about the inventory of legal boundaries and legal
actions affecting the boundaries of counties and equivalent entities,
incorporated places, minor civil divisions (MCDs), and federally
recognized legal American Indian and Alaska Native areas. This
information provides an accurate identification of geographic areas for
the Census Bureau to use in conducting the Decennial and Economic
Censuses and ongoing surveys, preparing population estimates, and
supporting other statistical programs of the Census Bureau and the
legislative programs of the Federal government.
Through the BAS, the Census Bureau asks each government to review
materials for its jurisdiction to verify the correctness of the
information portrayed. The Census Bureau requests that each government
update their boundaries, supply information documenting each legal
boundary change, and provide changes in the inventory of governments.
The Census Bureau has a national implementation of the BAS, but each
state's laws are reviewed for inclusion in the processing procedures.
In addition, if it comes to the Census Bureau's attention that an area
of non-tribal land is in dispute between two or more jurisdictions, the
Census Bureau will not make annexations or boundary corrections until
the parties come to a written agreement, or there is a documented final
court decision regarding the matter and/or dispute. If there is a
dispute over an area of tribal land, the Census Bureau will not make
additions or boundary corrections until supporting documents are
provided, or the U.S. Department of the Interior issues a comment. If
necessary, the Census Bureau will request clarification regarding
current boundaries, particularly if supporting documentation pre-dates
1990, from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the
Solicitor.
The BAS universe and mailing materials vary depending both upon the
needs of the Census Bureau in fulfilling its censuses and household
surveys and upon budget constraints.
Counties or equivalent entities, federally recognized American
Indian reservations (AIRs), Off-Reservation Trust Lands (ORTLs), and
Tribal Subdivisions are included in every survey.
In the years ending in 8, 9 and 0, the BAS includes all
governmentally active counties and equivalent entities, incorporated
places, legally defined MCDs, and legally defined federally recognized
American Indian and Alaska Native areas (including the Alaska Native
Regional Corporations). Each governmental entity surveyed will receive
materials covering its jurisdiction and one or more forms. These three
years coincide with the Census Bureau's preparation for the Decennial
Census. There are fewer than 40,000 governments in the universe each
year.
In all other years, the BAS reporting universe includes all legally
defined federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native areas,
all governmental counties and equivalent entities, MCDs in the six New
England States (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, and Vermont), and those incorporated places that have a
population of 2,500 or greater. The reporting universe is approximately
14,000 governments due to budget constraints at the Census Bureau. The
Census Bureau only follows up on a subset of governments designated as
the reporting universe.
In the years ending in 1 through 7, the Census Bureau may enter
into agreements with individual states to modify the universe of MCDs
and/or incorporated places to include additional entities that are
known by that state to have had boundary changes, without regard to
population size. Each year, the BAS will also include a single
respondent request for municipio, barrio, barrio-pueblo, and subbarrio
boundary and status information in Puerto Rico and Hawaiian Homeland
boundary and status information in Hawaii.
In the years ending in 6 through 9, state participants in the RDP
may request coordination between the BAS and RDP submissions for the
Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP) and Voting District Project
(VTDP). The alignment of the BAS with the BBSP and VTDP will facilitate
increased cooperation between state and local governments and provide
the opportunity to align their effort with updates from state and local
government officials participating in the BAS.
No other Federal agency collects these data, nor is there a
standard collection of this information at the state level. BAS is a
unique survey providing a standard result for use by federal, state,
local, and tribal governments and by commercial, private, and public
organizations.
The Census Bureau has developed and continues to use several
methods to collect information on status and updates for legal
boundaries. These methods are:
State Certification
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
[[Page 80318]]
Consolidation Agreements
Annual Response
Paper BAS
Digital BAS
BQARP
Research Projects
State Certification
Through the BAS State Certification program, the Census Bureau
invites the Governor-appointed State Certifying Official (SCO) from
each state to review the boundary and governmental unit information
collected during the previous BAS cycle. The purpose of the State
Certification program is to verify the accuracy and validate the BAS
information with state governments for incorporated places received
from the previous BAS cycle. The Census Bureau requests the SCOs review
data files, including the attribute data, legal boundary changes, as
well as the legal names and functional statuses of incorporated places
and MCDs, and any new incorporations or disincorporations reported
through the BAS. A SCO may request that the Census Bureau edit the
attribute data, add missing records, or remove invalid records if their
state government maintains an official record of all effective changes
to legal boundaries and governmental units as mandated by state law.
State Certification packages contain a letter to the Governor, a State
Certifying Official Letter, a Discrepancy Letter, and a State
Certification Respondent Guide.
MOU
In states with legislation requiring local governments to report
all legal boundary updates to a state agency, state officials may enter
into a MOU with the Census Bureau. States have the option to report to
the Census Bureau the list of governments with known legal boundary
changes and the Census Bureau will include in the BAS only those
governments with known boundary changes or the state may report the
legal boundary changes directly to the Census Bureau on behalf of the
governments. The Census Bureau will not survey the local governments if
the state reports for them. The Census Bureau will send a reminder
email notification to the governments requesting them to report to the
state contact, per MOU. The MOU, as agreed upon by the state and the
Census Bureau, will outline the terms of the survey and reporting for
governments.
Consolidation Agreements
Consolidation agreements allow state and county government
officials, in states where there are no legislative requirements for
local governments to report their legal updates to the state or county,
the opportunity to reduce the response burden for their local
governments. Under a consolidation agreement, a state or county
responds to the BAS for the local governments that agree to allow the
state or county to respond on their behalf. The Census Bureau sends the
BAS materials to the state or county, as appropriate, and sends a
reminder notification to the local government to report their updates
to their BAS consolidator.
Annual Response
Annual Response involves an announcement email letter and a one-
page form for the state and county governments that do not have a
consolidation agreement. Through Annual Response, county, tribal, and
local governments indicate whether they have boundary changes to report
and provide a current contact person. The Census Bureau requests
governments to reply online or through email. The Annual Response
method reduces cost and respondent burden through savings on materials
and effort. All governments receive this notification regardless of
population size. The Census Bureau will conduct telephone follow-up
only to governments in the reporting universe due to budget
constraints.
If a government requests materials through Annual Response, they
may choose to download digital materials or have the materials shipped
as a traditional paper package or digital media types.
Paper BAS
For the traditional paper package, the respondent completes the BAS
form and draws the boundary updates on the maps using pencils provided
in the package. The package contains large format maps, printed forms
and supplies to complete the survey.
The typical BAS package contains:
1. Introductory letter from the Director of the Census Bureau;
2. Appropriate BAS Form(s) that contains entity-specific
identification information;
a. BAS-1: Incorporated places and consolidated cities;
b. BAS-2: Counties, parishes, and boroughs;
c. BAS-3: MCDs;
d. BAS-5: American Indian and Alaska Native Areas; and
e. BAS-6: Consolidated BAS
3. BAS Respondent Guide;
4. Set of maps;
5. Return postage-paid envelope to submit boundary changes;
6. Postcard to notify the Census Bureau of no changes to the
boundary; and
7. Supplies for updating paper maps.
Digital BAS
Digital BAS includes options to receive software and spatial data
to make boundary updates or to make boundary updates electronically by
submitting a digital file. A local contact from each government
verifies the legal boundary, and then provides boundary changes and
updated contact information. An official signs the materials, verifies
the forms, and returns the information to the Census Bureau.
The typical Digital BAS package contains:
1. Introductory letter from the Director of the Census Bureau;
2. Appropriate BAS Form(s) that contains entity-specific
identification information;
a. BAS-1: Incorporated places and consolidated cities;
b. BAS-2: Counties, parishes, and boroughs;
c. BAS-3: MCDs;
d. BAS-5: American Indian and Alaska Native Areas; and
e. BAS-6: Consolidated BAS
3. CD or DVD and software CD for Geographic Update Partnership
Software (GUPS); and
4. Postcard to notify the Census Bureau of no changes to the
boundary.
The key dates for governments are as follows:
1. Annual Response emailed or mailed to the local contact in
December of each year.
2. BAS package/materials shipped during the months of December,
January, February, March, and April of each year.
3. Requests to change the method of participation (i.e., paper to
digital submission and vice versa) are due by April 15th of each year.
4. Responses for inclusion in the American Community Survey (ACS)
and Population Estimates Program (PEP) are due by March 1st of each
year, with an effective date of January 1st of the year in question or
earlier.
5. Responses for inclusion in the following year's BAS materials
are due by May 31st of each year and will include any annexation
received from the previous or current year.
6. In year 2020, all legal documentation for inclusion in the 2020
Census must be effective as of January 1, 2020 or earlier. All legal
boundary changes will be placed on hold and updated during the 2021 BAS
if effective January 2, 2020 or later.
[[Page 80319]]
BQARP
To improve boundary quality in the Census Bureau's Master Address
File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/
TIGER) System, the Census Bureau is introducing BQARP to support the
BAS program. BQARP is a project to assess, analyze, and improve the
spatial quality of legal and administrative boundaries within MAF/
TIGER. Ensuring quality boundaries is a critical component of the
geographic preparations for the 2020 Census and the Census Bureau's
ongoing Geographic Partnership Programs (GPPs) and surveys. In
addition, the improvement of boundary quality is an essential element
of the Census Bureau's commitment as the responsible agency for legal
boundaries under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-
16. The goal of BQARP is to establish a new, accurate baseline for
boundaries within an entire state or county, which the BAS would then
continue with the collection of annexations and deannexations on a
transaction basis as they occur over time. The estimated work burden
for participation is 25 hours per participant.
Research Projects
BAS continues to work to improve the survey based on feedback
received from local governments. The Census Bureau plans to conduct two
research projects during 2016. The first research project is for BAS
form redesign for potential use for the 2017 BAS Forms. The second
research project is to test an option for local governments to provide
a list of addresses associated with an annexation to continue to
improve data quality in MAF/TIGER. Participation is voluntary for these
research projects. The estimated work burden for participation is 3
hours per participant.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13, U.S.C., Section 6.
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 OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395-5806.
Dated: December 18, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-32374 Filed 12-23-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
