Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Boundary and Annexation Survey, 37169-37172 [2024-09793]
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Notices
or learning impairments. To request
additional accommodations, please
email ebohor@usccr.gov at least 10
business days prior to each meeting
date.
Members of the public are entitled to
submit written comments; the
comments must be received in the
regional office within 30 days following
the meetings. Written comments may be
emailed to Victoria Moreno at
vmoreno@usccr.gov. Persons who desire
additional information may contact the
Regional Programs Coordination Unit at
1–312–353–8311.
Records generated from these
meetings may be inspected and
reproduced at the Regional Programs
Coordination Unit Office, as they
become available, both before and after
the meetings. Records of the meetings
will be available via
www.facadatabase.gov under the
Commission on Civil Rights, Puerto
Rico Advisory Committee link. Persons
interested in the work of this Committee
are directed to the Commission’s
website, https://www.usccr.gov, or may
contact the Regional Programs
Coordination Unit at ebohor@usccr.gov.
Agenda
1. Welcome, Roll Call, & Chair Opening
Remarks
2. Panel 1 | May 21: followed by
Committee Q&A
3. Panel 2 | May 30: followed by
Committee Q&A
4. Panel 3 | June 4: followed by
Committee Q&A
5. Public Comment
6. Adjourn
Dated: April 30, 2024.
David Mussatt,
Supervisory Chief, Regional Programs Unit.
[FR Doc. 2024–09743 Filed 5–3–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS
Notice of Public Meeting of the Texas
Advisory Committee
U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights.
ACTION: Announcement of virtual
business meeting.
AGENCY:
Notice is hereby given,
pursuant to the provisions of the rules
and regulations of the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights (Commission) and the
Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA) that the Texas Advisory
Committee (Committee) to the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights will hold a
virtual business meeting via ZoomGov
on Thursday, May 16, 2024, from 12
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
SUMMARY:
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p.m. to 1 p.m. CT, for the purpose of
selecting their new project topic.
DATES: The meeting will take place via
Zoom webinar: Thursday, May 16, 2024,
from 12 p.m.–1 p.m. CT.
ADDRESSES: Webinar Zoom Link to Join
(Audio/Visual), https://
www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/
WN_RMQIL7yxSlOwEUbIt6lxSA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Brooke Peery, Designated Federal
Officer (DFO) at bpeery@usccr.gov or by
phone at (202) 701–1376.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Committee meetings are available to the
public through the videoconference link
above. Any interested member of the
public may listen to the meeting. An
open comment period will be provided
to allow members of the public to make
a statement as time allows. Per the
Federal Advisory Committee Act, public
minutes of the meeting will include a
list of persons who are present at the
meeting. If joining via phone, callers can
expect to incur regular charges for calls
they initiate over wireless lines,
according to their wireless plan. The
Commission will not refund any
incurred charges. Closed captioning will
be available for individuals who are
deaf, hard of hearing, or who have
certain cognitive or learning
impairments. To request additional
accommodations, please email Angelica
Trevino, Support Services Specialist,
atrevino@usccr.gov at least 10 business
days prior to the meeting.
Members of the public are entitled to
make comments during the open period
at the end of the meeting. Members of
the public may also submit written
comments; the comments must be
received in the Regional Programs Unit
within 30 days following the meeting.
Written comments can be sent via email
to Brooke Peery (DFO) at bpeery@
usccr.gov.
Records generated from this meeting
may be inspected and reproduced at the
Regional Programs Coordination Unit
Office, as they become available, both
before and after the meeting. Records of
the meetings will be available via
www.facadatabase.gov under the
Commission on Civil Rights, Texas
Advisory Committee link. Persons
interested in the work of this Committee
are directed to the Commission’s
website, https://www.usccr.gov, or may
contact the Regional Programs
Coordination Unit at atrevino@
usccr.gov.
Agenda
I. Welcome & Roll Call
II. Approval of Minutes
III. Committee Discussion
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37169
IV. Public Comment
V. Adjournment
Dated: April 30, 2024.
David Mussatt,
Supervisory Chief, Regional Programs Unit.
[FR Doc. 2024–09739 Filed 5–3–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Boundary and Annexation
Survey
Census Bureau, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection,
request for comment.
AGENCY:
The Department of
Commerce, in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, invites the general public and
other Federal agencies to comment on
proposed, and continuing information
collections, which helps us assess the
impact of our information collection
requirements and minimize the public’s
reporting burden. The purpose of this
notice is to allow for 60 days of public
comment on the proposed revision of
the Boundary and Annexation Survey,
prior to the submission of the
information collection request (ICR) to
OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration,
comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received
on or before July 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments by
email to dcmd.pra@census.gov. Please
reference ‘‘Boundary and Annexation
Survey’’ in the subject line of your
comments. You may also submit
comments, identified by Docket Number
USBC–2024–0012, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. All comments
received are part of the public record.
No comments will be posted to https://
www.regulations.gov for public viewing
until after the comment period has
closed. Comments will generally be
posted without change. All Personally
Identifiable Information (for example,
name and address) voluntarily
submitted by the commenter may be
publicly accessible. Do not submit
Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected
information. You may submit
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\06MYN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Notices
attachments to electronic comments in
Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF
file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection
activities should be directed to Michael
S. Snow, Program Manager, Decennial
Census Management Division, by phone
at 301–763–9912 or by email to
dcmd.pra@census.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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I. Abstract
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts
many voluntary geographic partnership
programs designed to collect addresses,
boundaries, and linear features for
incorporation into the Master Address
File/Topologically Integrated
Geographic Encoding and Referencing
(MAF/TIGER) System. The Boundary
and Annexation Survey (BAS) is one of
these programs. It provides eligible
governments, which include tribal,
state, and general-purpose local
governments, an opportunity to review
the Census Bureau’s legal boundary data
to ensure the Census Bureau has the
correct boundary, name, and status
information and make necessary
updates. BAS also allows for the review
and update of census designated place
(CDP) boundaries and linear features. It
fulfills the agency’s responsibility as
part of the National Spatial Data
Infrastructure, for which the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
Circular A–16 designates the Census
Bureau as the lead federal agency for
maintaining national data about legal
government boundaries, as well as
statistical and administrative
boundaries. It also supports the
geospatial data steward responsibilities
of the Geospatial Data Act, the Evidence
Act, OMB E-Gov, the Federal
Geographic Data Committee, Data.gov,
GeoPlatform.gov, the National Map, the
Geographic Names Information System,
and the Geospatial One-Stop.
The Census Bureau uses the
boundaries collected during BAS to
tabulate data for various censuses and
surveys including the decennial census,
American Community Survey (ACS),
and Population Estimates Program
(PEP). It also uses the boundaries
collected through BAS to support other
programs such as the Redistricting Data
Program, the Economic Census, the
Geographic Update Population
Certification Program, and the Special
Census program.
Other federal programs also rely on
accurate boundaries collected through
BAS. The Department of Housing and
Urban Development uses boundaries to
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determine jurisdictional eligibility for
various grant programs, such as the
Community Development Block Grant
program. In addition, the Department of
Agriculture uses boundaries to
determine eligibility for various rural
housing and economic development
programs.
The BAS participation process,
outlined below, is like the Census
Bureau’s other geographic partnership
programs though there are some
differences in the universe of eligible
governments, requirements, and
timeframe of the program.
• The Census Bureau notifies eligible
governments about BAS through email.
Eligible governments are instructed to
review the legal boundary, name, and
status information, along with CDP
boundaries, linear features, and the
highest elected official and program
contact information the Census Bureau
has on file. They can review their
boundaries and linear features using the
Census Bureau’s TIGERweb application,
partnership shapefiles, or PDF maps.
• Eligible governments respond
through an online response form or
email to indicate if they have legal
boundary, CDP, linear feature, or
contact updates. Those with updates
can choose to create their submission
using the BAS Partnership Toolbox,
Geographic Update Partnership
Software (GUPS), GUPS Web, or paper
maps.
• Eligible governments return updates
to the Census Bureau. Updates created
using the BAS Partnership Toolbox,
GUPS, or GUPS Web are returned
through the Census Bureau’s secure
online data sharing portal while paper
map updates are returned through the
mail.
• The Census Bureau processes and
verifies all updates for accuracy and
completeness. The updates are inserted
into the MAF/TIGER System and quality
control is performed.
Legal Information
The Census Bureau reviews and
maintains an inventory of each state’s
legal boundary laws and statutes. This
information is made available to eligible
governments on the BAS website. The
Census Bureau also uses this
information to verify that updates
provided during BAS are made in
accordance with state law.
If it comes to the Census Bureau’s
attention that an area of non-tribal land
is in dispute between two or more
governments, the Census Bureau will
not make boundary updates until all
affected parties come to a written
agreement, or there is a documented
final court decision regarding the matter
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and/or dispute. If there is a dispute over
an area of tribal land, the Census Bureau
will not make boundary updates until
the governments provide supporting
documents or the U.S. Department of
the Interior issues a comment. If
necessary, the Census Bureau will
request clarification regarding current
boundaries or supporting
documentation, from the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Office of the
Solicitor.
BAS Universe
The BAS universe includes
approximately 40,000 eligible
governments. These include:
• Federally recognized tribes with a
reservation or off-reservation trust land
(including tribal subdivisions).
• States.
• Counties and county equivalent
governments.
• Incorporated places (including
consolidated cities).
• Minor civil divisions.
• Hawaiian Home Lands.
• Municipios, barrios, barrio-pueblos,
and subbarrios in the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico.
• The U.S. territories of American
Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands.
II. Method of Collection
The following collection methods
allow the Census Bureau to coordinate
among various levels of governments to
obtain the most accurate boundary,
CDP, linear feature, and contact
information:
• BAS.
• State Certification.
• Boundary Quality Project.
BAS
BAS provides eligible governments,
which include tribal, state, and generalpurpose local governments, an
opportunity to review the Census
Bureau’s legal boundary data to ensure
the Census Bureau has the correct
boundary, name, and status information
and make necessary updates. BAS also
allows for the review and update of
CDPs and linear features.
The Census Bureau notifies eligible
governments about BAS through email.
The email includes program information
and directs eligible governments to
respond through an online form if they
have legal boundary, CDP, linear
feature, or contact updates to report.
Any eligible government without an
email on file with the Census Bureau
will be contacted by phone and asked to
provide their response.
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Those indicating they have updates to
provide must create their submission
using one of the options listed below.
• BAS Partnership Toolbox. The BAS
Partnership Toolbox allows eligible
governments to create the submission in
ArcGIS Pro. The toolbox automates data
download, boundary update creation,
and exports standardized files for
submission.
• GUPS. GUPS is a free, customized
geographic information system software
application provided by the Census
Bureau. It is offered as standalone
(GUPS Download) and online (GUPS
Web) applications.
Æ GUPS Download allows eligible
governments to manually create
boundary updates and export
standardized files for submission.
Æ GUPS Web allows eligible
governments to manually create
boundary updates or import local
boundary data to automate the creation
of boundary updates and export
standardized files for submission.
• Paper maps. The Census Bureau
will ship large format paper maps and
instructions for eligible governments to
annotate and return their updates to the
Census Bureau. The paper map package
includes a letter, materials list insert,
large format paper maps covering the
extent of the government, supplies to
update the paper maps, how-to guide,
and postage-paid return envelope.
Eligible governments that do have
boundary updates can submit both legal
boundary changes and boundary
corrections. Legal boundary changes
include updates that are a result of any
legal action taken by the eligible
government(s) to add or remove land to
their official boundary. Boundary
corrections are updates that are the
result of spatial inaccuracies and do not
substantially alter the Census Bureau’s
representation of the boundaries.
Updates created using the BAS
Partnership Toolbox, GUPS, or GUPS
Web are returned through the Census
Bureau’s secure online data sharing
portal, while paper map are returned
through the mail.
Eligible governments that do not
respond, or those that indicate they
have updates to provide, but have not
submitted their updates are contacted
during nonresponse follow-up by email.
The email reminds eligible governments
to respond through an online response
form or email if they have updates to
report. Those that indicated they have
updates to report are requested to
submit those updates by the March 1 or
May 31 deadlines.
Refer to the schedule below for a
high-level BAS program timeline.
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• January 1—Legal boundary changes
must be legally in effect on or before
this date to be reported in the current
survey year.
• January to May—The Census
Bureau conducts BAS. Eligible
governments respond to BAS indicating
if they have legal boundary, CDP, linear
feature, or contact updates to report.
Those with updates can choose to create
their submission using the Census
Bureau’s BAS Partnership Toolbox,
GUPS, GUPS Web, or paper maps.
• Early January—The Census Bureau
notifies eligible governments about BAS
through email. Eligible governments are
contacted through email to determine if
they have legal boundary, CDP, linear
feature, or contact updates to report.
Any eligible government without an
email on file with the Census Bureau
will be contacted by phone and asked to
provide their response.
• Mid-February, Mid-March, and MidApril—The Census Bureau conducts
nonresponse follow-up for BAS through
email. Eligible governments that have
not responded to annual response, along
with those that indicated they have
updates to report but have not yet
submitted those updates, are contacted
through email on up to three occasions.
• March 1—Legal boundary changes
returned by this date will be reflected in
the ACS and PEP data and in next year’s
BAS materials.
• May 31—Legal boundary changes
returned by this date will be reflected in
next year’s BAS materials. If time
permits, boundary corrections returned
by this date may also be reflected in
next year’s BAS materials.
The Census Bureau maintains state
and county (CBAS) agreements that
coordinate the sharing of information
and resources between the federal
government and state or county
governments in collecting boundary
information for general-purpose local
governments. These agreements aim to
reduce the duplication of effort across
various levels of governments as well as
the cost and time burden associated
with BAS participation.
To facilitate a state agreement, the
Census Bureau enters a Memorandum of
Understanding with the state. States
interested in establishing an agreement
can do so when there is state legislation
requiring general-purpose local
governments to report all boundary
updates to a state agency. The Census
Bureau currently maintains two types of
state agreements. In the first type of
agreement, the state reports boundary
updates for all eligible governments
within its jurisdiction. Eligible
governments in this type of agreement
are notified about BAS; however, they
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37171
do not receive the request to provide
updates and are instructed to report all
boundary updates to the state. Under
the second type of agreement, the state
provides the Census Bureau with a list
of eligible governments that reported
boundary changes. The Census Bureau
uses the list to target those generalpurpose local governments during BAS.
CBAS agreements allow county or
county-equivalent governments to
submit updates for the eligible generalpurpose local governments within their
jurisdiction. Once under an agreement,
eligible governments are notified about
BAS; however, they do not receive the
request to provide updates and are
instructed to report all boundary
updates to the county or countyequivalent government.
State Certification
The state certification program allows
state agencies to verify that the legal
boundary, name, and status information
received through BAS were reported in
accordance with state law. The Census
Bureau annually requests that each state
governor designate a state certifying
official (SCO) to participate in the
program. The SCO reviews listings of
legal boundary changes, as well as
government names and statuses that
were submitted through the previous
year’s BAS. These listings include the
attribute information for new
incorporations, dissolutions, mergers,
consolidations, and legal boundary
changes. The listings also include the
names and functional statuses of all
general-purpose local governments
within the state’s jurisdiction. The SCO
can request that the Census Bureau edit
the attribute data, add missing records,
or remove invalid records. Invalid
records are only removed if the state
government maintains an official record
of all changes to legal boundaries and
governments as mandated by state law.
The state certification schedule is as
follows:
• October—The Census Bureau
emails governor’s letters requesting the
state appoint an SCO to participate in
the program.
• December—The Census Bureau
emails the information required to
participate to the SCO.
• December to February—The SCO
returns submission to the Census
Bureau.
• March—The Census Bureau
distributes discrepancy emails to
general-purpose local governments
based on feedback from the SCO.
The state certification materials
include a governor’s letter, an email to
the SCO, how-to guide, legal boundary
change and government name and status
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listings, and discrepancy email to local
governments. The listings and how-to
guide are available on the BAS website.
The SCO returns all updates
electronically through the Census
Bureau’s secure online data sharing
portal.
Boundary Quality Project
The boundary quality project is
designed to assess, analyze, and
improve the spatial quality of legal,
statistical, and administrative
boundaries within the MAF/TIGER
System. Ensuring quality boundaries is
a critical component of the geographic
preparations for each decennial census
and the Census Bureau’s ongoing
geographic partnership programs. 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 OMB Circular A–16.
The project represents an effort to
systematically target and assess
boundary quality within the MAF/
TIGER System. Historically, the Census
Bureau relied exclusively on geographic
partnership programs such as BAS and
the Participant Statistical Areas Program
(PSAP) to obtain updates to tribal, state,
general-purpose local government, and
CDP boundaries. While programs like
BAS play an essential role in improving
boundary quality, the goal of the
boundary quality project is to establish
a new, more accurate, baseline for legal
boundaries and CDPs within an entire
state or county. BAS builds on this
baseline by collecting individual legal
boundary changes and optionally
associated addresses, and CDP updates
on a transaction basis as they occur over
the years.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Feedback
The Census Bureau is adding a
feedback component to its geographic
partnership programs to allow for the
solicitation of feedback to improve the
administration of the respective
program and potentially reduce the
future burden. Eligible governments
may be asked to provide their feedback
on materials, method(s) of data
collection, manner of communications,
and the usability of the program
applications and tools.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607–0151.
Form Number(s): BAS–6. This is the
CBAS agreement form.
Type of Review: Regular submission,
request for a revision of a currently
approved collection.
Affected Public: Tribal, state, and
general-purpose local governments in
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18:02 May 03, 2024
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all fifty states, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
American Samoa, Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
• BAS/State Certification/Boundary
Quality Project: 40,000 governments.
• Feedback: 1,000 governments.
Estimated Time per Response:
• BAS/State Certification/Boundary
Quality Project: 7.5 hours. This estimate
is based on an average of 5 hours for an
eligible government with no change and
10 hours for an eligible government
with changes.
• Feedback: 30 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 300,500 hours.
• BAS/State Certification/Boundary
Quality Project: 300,000 hours.
• Feedback: 500 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $0. (This is not the cost of
respondents’ time, but the indirect costs
respondents may incur for such things
as purchases of specialized software or
hardware needed to report, or
expenditures for accounting or records
maintenance services required
specifically by the collection.)
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C.,
section 6.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to
permit the Department/Bureau to: (a)
Evaluate whether the proposed
information collection is necessary for
the proper functions of the Department,
including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the
accuracy of our estimate of the time and
cost burden for this proposed collection,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (c)
Evaluate ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and (d) Minimize the
reporting burden on those who are to
respond, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include, or
summarize, each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this ICR.
Before including your address, phone
number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you may ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
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cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs,
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024–09793 Filed 5–3–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Redistricting Data Program
Census Bureau, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection,
request for comment.
AGENCY:
The Department of
Commerce, in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, invites the general public and
other Federal agencies to comment on
proposed, and continuing information
collections, which helps us assess the
impact of our information collection
requirements and minimize the public’s
reporting burden. The purpose of this
notice is to allow for 60 days of public
comment on the proposed revision of
the Redistricting Data Program (RDP),
prior to the submission of the
information collection request (ICR) to
OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration,
comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received
on or before July 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments by
email to dcmd.pra@census.gov. Please
reference ‘‘Redistricting Data Program’’
in the subject line of your comments.
You may also submit comments,
identified by Docket Number USBC–
2024–0011, to the Federal e-Rulemaking
Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. All
comments received are part of the
public record. No comments will be
posted to https://www.regulations.gov
for public viewing until after the
comment period has closed. Comments
will generally be posted without change.
All Personally Identifiable Information
(for example, name and address)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter
may be publicly accessible. Do not
submit Confidential Business
Information or otherwise sensitive or
protected information. You may submit
attachments to electronic comments in
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\06MYN1.SGM
06MYN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 88 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37169-37172]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09793]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Boundary and Annexation Survey
AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the
proposed revision of the Boundary and Annexation Survey, prior to the
submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for
approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before July 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to [email protected]. Please reference ``Boundary and
Annexation Survey'' in the subject line of your comments. You may also
submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2024-0012, to the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. All comments
received are part of the public record. No comments will be posted to
https://www.regulations.gov for public viewing until after the comment
period has closed. Comments will generally be posted without change.
All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and address)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do
not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or
protected information. You may submit
[[Page 37170]]
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe
PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Michael S. Snow, Program Manager, Decennial Census Management
Division, by phone at 301-763-9912 or by email to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts many voluntary geographic
partnership programs designed to collect addresses, boundaries, and
linear features for incorporation into the Master Address File/
Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/
TIGER) System. The Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) is one of these
programs. It provides eligible governments, which include tribal,
state, and general-purpose local governments, an opportunity to review
the Census Bureau's legal boundary data to ensure the Census Bureau has
the correct boundary, name, and status information and make necessary
updates. BAS also allows for the review and update of census designated
place (CDP) boundaries and linear features. It fulfills the agency's
responsibility as part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, for
which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16
designates the Census Bureau as the lead federal agency for maintaining
national data about legal government boundaries, as well as statistical
and administrative boundaries. It also supports the geospatial data
steward responsibilities of the Geospatial Data Act, the Evidence Act,
OMB E-Gov, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, Data.gov,
GeoPlatform.gov, the National Map, the Geographic Names Information
System, and the Geospatial One-Stop.
The Census Bureau uses the boundaries collected during BAS to
tabulate data for various censuses and surveys including the decennial
census, American Community Survey (ACS), and Population Estimates
Program (PEP). It also uses the boundaries collected through BAS to
support other programs such as the Redistricting Data Program, the
Economic Census, the Geographic Update Population Certification
Program, and the Special Census program.
Other federal programs also rely on accurate boundaries collected
through BAS. The Department of Housing and Urban Development uses
boundaries to determine jurisdictional eligibility for various grant
programs, such as the Community Development Block Grant program. In
addition, the Department of Agriculture uses boundaries to determine
eligibility for various rural housing and economic development
programs.
The BAS participation process, outlined below, is like the Census
Bureau's other geographic partnership programs though there are some
differences in the universe of eligible governments, requirements, and
timeframe of the program.
The Census Bureau notifies eligible governments about BAS
through email. Eligible governments are instructed to review the legal
boundary, name, and status information, along with CDP boundaries,
linear features, and the highest elected official and program contact
information the Census Bureau has on file. They can review their
boundaries and linear features using the Census Bureau's TIGERweb
application, partnership shapefiles, or PDF maps.
Eligible governments respond through an online response
form or email to indicate if they have legal boundary, CDP, linear
feature, or contact updates. Those with updates can choose to create
their submission using the BAS Partnership Toolbox, Geographic Update
Partnership Software (GUPS), GUPS Web, or paper maps.
Eligible governments return updates to the Census Bureau.
Updates created using the BAS Partnership Toolbox, GUPS, or GUPS Web
are returned through the Census Bureau's secure online data sharing
portal while paper map updates are returned through the mail.
The Census Bureau processes and verifies all updates for
accuracy and completeness. The updates are inserted into the MAF/TIGER
System and quality control is performed.
Legal Information
The Census Bureau reviews and maintains an inventory of each
state's legal boundary laws and statutes. This information is made
available to eligible governments on the BAS website. The Census Bureau
also uses this information to verify that updates provided during BAS
are made in accordance with state law.
If it comes to the Census Bureau's attention that an area of non-
tribal land is in dispute between two or more governments, the Census
Bureau will not make boundary updates until all affected 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 boundary updates until
the governments provide supporting documents or the U.S. Department of
the Interior issues a comment. If necessary, the Census Bureau will
request clarification regarding current boundaries or supporting
documentation, from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the
Solicitor.
BAS Universe
The BAS universe includes approximately 40,000 eligible
governments. These include:
Federally recognized tribes with a reservation or off-
reservation trust land (including tribal subdivisions).
States.
Counties and county equivalent governments.
Incorporated places (including consolidated cities).
Minor civil divisions.
Hawaiian Home Lands.
Municipios, barrios, barrio-pueblos, and subbarrios in the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands.
II. Method of Collection
The following collection methods allow the Census Bureau to
coordinate among various levels of governments to obtain the most
accurate boundary, CDP, linear feature, and contact information:
BAS.
State Certification.
Boundary Quality Project.
BAS
BAS provides eligible governments, which include tribal, state, and
general-purpose local governments, an opportunity to review the Census
Bureau's legal boundary data to ensure the Census Bureau has the
correct boundary, name, and status information and make necessary
updates. BAS also allows for the review and update of CDPs and linear
features.
The Census Bureau notifies eligible governments about BAS through
email. The email includes program information and directs eligible
governments to respond through an online form if they have legal
boundary, CDP, linear feature, or contact updates to report. Any
eligible government without an email on file with the Census Bureau
will be contacted by phone and asked to provide their response.
[[Page 37171]]
Those indicating they have updates to provide must create their
submission using one of the options listed below.
BAS Partnership Toolbox. The BAS Partnership Toolbox
allows eligible governments to create the submission in ArcGIS Pro. The
toolbox automates data download, boundary update creation, and exports
standardized files for submission.
GUPS. GUPS is a free, customized geographic information
system software application provided by the Census Bureau. It is
offered as standalone (GUPS Download) and online (GUPS Web)
applications.
[cir] GUPS Download allows eligible governments to manually create
boundary updates and export standardized files for submission.
[cir] GUPS Web allows eligible governments to manually create
boundary updates or import local boundary data to automate the creation
of boundary updates and export standardized files for submission.
Paper maps. The Census Bureau will ship large format paper
maps and instructions for eligible governments to annotate and return
their updates to the Census Bureau. The paper map package includes a
letter, materials list insert, large format paper maps covering the
extent of the government, supplies to update the paper maps, how-to
guide, and postage-paid return envelope.
Eligible governments that do have boundary updates can submit both
legal boundary changes and boundary corrections. Legal boundary changes
include updates that are a result of any legal action taken by the
eligible government(s) to add or remove land to their official
boundary. Boundary corrections are updates that are the result of
spatial inaccuracies and do not substantially alter the Census Bureau's
representation of the boundaries.
Updates created using the BAS Partnership Toolbox, GUPS, or GUPS
Web are returned through the Census Bureau's secure online data sharing
portal, while paper map are returned through the mail.
Eligible governments that do not respond, or those that indicate
they have updates to provide, but have not submitted their updates are
contacted during nonresponse follow-up by email. The email reminds
eligible governments to respond through an online response form or
email if they have updates to report. Those that indicated they have
updates to report are requested to submit those updates by the March 1
or May 31 deadlines.
Refer to the schedule below for a high-level BAS program timeline.
January 1--Legal boundary changes must be legally in
effect on or before this date to be reported in the current survey
year.
January to May--The Census Bureau conducts BAS. Eligible
governments respond to BAS indicating if they have legal boundary, CDP,
linear feature, or contact updates to report. Those with updates can
choose to create their submission using the Census Bureau's BAS
Partnership Toolbox, GUPS, GUPS Web, or paper maps.
Early January--The Census Bureau notifies eligible
governments about BAS through email. Eligible governments are contacted
through email to determine if they have legal boundary, CDP, linear
feature, or contact updates to report. Any eligible government without
an email on file with the Census Bureau will be contacted by phone and
asked to provide their response.
Mid-February, Mid-March, and Mid-April--The Census Bureau
conducts nonresponse follow-up for BAS through email. Eligible
governments that have not responded to annual response, along with
those that indicated they have updates to report but have not yet
submitted those updates, are contacted through email on up to three
occasions.
March 1--Legal boundary changes returned by this date will
be reflected in the ACS and PEP data and in next year's BAS materials.
May 31--Legal boundary changes returned by this date will
be reflected in next year's BAS materials. If time permits, boundary
corrections returned by this date may also be reflected in next year's
BAS materials.
The Census Bureau maintains state and county (CBAS) agreements that
coordinate the sharing of information and resources between the federal
government and state or county governments in collecting boundary
information for general-purpose local governments. These agreements aim
to reduce the duplication of effort across various levels of
governments as well as the cost and time burden associated with BAS
participation.
To facilitate a state agreement, the Census Bureau enters a
Memorandum of Understanding with the state. States interested in
establishing an agreement can do so when there is state legislation
requiring general-purpose local governments to report all boundary
updates to a state agency. The Census Bureau currently maintains two
types of state agreements. In the first type of agreement, the state
reports boundary updates for all eligible governments within its
jurisdiction. Eligible governments in this type of agreement are
notified about BAS; however, they do not receive the request to provide
updates and are instructed to report all boundary updates to the state.
Under the second type of agreement, the state provides the Census
Bureau with a list of eligible governments that reported boundary
changes. The Census Bureau uses the list to target those general-
purpose local governments during BAS.
CBAS agreements allow county or county-equivalent governments to
submit updates for the eligible general-purpose local governments
within their jurisdiction. Once under an agreement, eligible
governments are notified about BAS; however, they do not receive the
request to provide updates and are instructed to report all boundary
updates to the county or county-equivalent government.
State Certification
The state certification program allows state agencies to verify
that the legal boundary, name, and status information received through
BAS were reported in accordance with state law. The Census Bureau
annually requests that each state governor designate a state certifying
official (SCO) to participate in the program. The SCO reviews listings
of legal boundary changes, as well as government names and statuses
that were submitted through the previous year's BAS. These listings
include the attribute information for new incorporations, dissolutions,
mergers, consolidations, and legal boundary changes. The listings also
include the names and functional statuses of all general-purpose local
governments within the state's jurisdiction. The SCO can request that
the Census Bureau edit the attribute data, add missing records, or
remove invalid records. Invalid records are only removed if the state
government maintains an official record of all changes to legal
boundaries and governments as mandated by state law. The state
certification schedule is as follows:
October--The Census Bureau emails governor's letters
requesting the state appoint an SCO to participate in the program.
December--The Census Bureau emails the information
required to participate to the SCO.
December to February--The SCO returns submission to the
Census Bureau.
March--The Census Bureau distributes discrepancy emails to
general-purpose local governments based on feedback from the SCO.
The state certification materials include a governor's letter, an
email to the SCO, how-to guide, legal boundary change and government
name and status
[[Page 37172]]
listings, and discrepancy email to local governments. The listings and
how-to guide are available on the BAS website. The SCO returns all
updates electronically through the Census Bureau's secure online data
sharing portal.
Boundary Quality Project
The boundary quality project is designed to assess, analyze, and
improve the spatial quality of legal, statistical, and administrative
boundaries within the MAF/TIGER System. Ensuring quality boundaries is
a critical component of the geographic preparations for each decennial
census and the Census Bureau's ongoing geographic partnership programs.
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 OMB Circular A-16.
The project represents an effort to systematically target and
assess boundary quality within the MAF/TIGER System. Historically, the
Census Bureau relied exclusively on geographic partnership programs
such as BAS and the Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP) to
obtain updates to tribal, state, general-purpose local government, and
CDP boundaries. While programs like BAS play an essential role in
improving boundary quality, the goal of the boundary quality project is
to establish a new, more accurate, baseline for legal boundaries and
CDPs within an entire state or county. BAS builds on this baseline by
collecting individual legal boundary changes and optionally associated
addresses, and CDP updates on a transaction basis as they occur over
the years.
Feedback
The Census Bureau is adding a feedback component to its geographic
partnership programs to allow for the solicitation of feedback to
improve the administration of the respective program and potentially
reduce the future burden. Eligible governments may be asked to provide
their feedback on materials, method(s) of data collection, manner of
communications, and the usability of the program applications and
tools.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607-0151.
Form Number(s): BAS-6. This is the CBAS agreement form.
Type of Review: Regular submission, request for a revision of a
currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Tribal, state, and general-purpose local
governments in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
BAS/State Certification/Boundary Quality Project: 40,000
governments.
Feedback: 1,000 governments.
Estimated Time per Response:
BAS/State Certification/Boundary Quality Project: 7.5
hours. This estimate is based on an average of 5 hours for an eligible
government with no change and 10 hours for an eligible government with
changes.
Feedback: 30 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 300,500 hours.
BAS/State Certification/Boundary Quality Project: 300,000
hours.
Feedback: 500 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services
required specifically by the collection.)
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., section 6.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-09793 Filed 5-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P