[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 1, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79889-79891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22527]


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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

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite 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. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on May 6, 2024, during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.
    Title: Boundary and Annexation Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0151.
    Form Number(s) BAS-6. This is the Consolidated BAS (CBAS) Agreement 
Form. BASSC-1. This is the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) State 
Certification State Certifying Official (SCO) Appointment Form. BAS 
Feedback Form. This is the form used to capture feedback.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, request for a revision of a 
currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents:
    <bullet> BAS/State Certification/Boundary Quality Project: 40,000 
governments.
    <bullet> Feedback: 1,000 governments.
    Average Hours per Response:
    <bullet> 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 changes and 10 hours for an eligible government with 
changes.
    <bullet> Feedback: 30 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 300,500 hours.
    <bullet> BAS/State Certification/Boundary Quality Project: 300,000 
hours.
    <bullet> Feedback: 500 hours.
    Needs and Uses: The Boundary and Annexation Survey (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 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 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 and American Community Survey (ACS) as well as the 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 Geographically Updated 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 following collection methods allow the Census Bureau to 
coordinate among various levels of government to obtain the most 
accurate legal boundary, CDP, linear feature, and contact information:
    <bullet> BAS.
    <bullet> State Certification.
    <bullet> 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.

[[Page 79890]]

    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.
    Those indicating they have updates to provide must create their 
submission using one of the options listed below.
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> GUPS. The Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS) is 
a free, customized geographic information system software application 
provided by the Census Bureau. It is offered as standalone (GUPS 
Standalone) and online (GUPS Web) applications.
    [cir] GUPS Standalone 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.
    <bullet> 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 Standalone, 
or GUPS Web are returned through the Census Bureau's secure online data 
sharing portal, while paper maps 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.
    <bullet> January 1--Legal boundary changes must be in effect on or 
before this date to be reported in the current survey year.
    <bullet> January to May--The Census Bureau conducts BAS.
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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 shown.

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:
    <bullet> October--The Census Bureau emails governor's letters 
requesting the state appoint an SCO to participate in the program.
    <bullet> December--The Census Bureau emails the information 
required to participate to the SCO.
    <bullet> December to February--The SCO returns submission to the 
Census Bureau.
    <bullet> 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 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 Master Address File/Topologically Integrated 
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (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

[[Page 79891]]

boundary changes and CDP updates on a transaction basis as they occur 
over the years.
    For the Census Bureau to complete this project, we would collect 
spatial data from tribal, state, and general-purpose local governments 
to improve the quality of the MAF/TIGER System outside the realm of 
BAS. The only burden on governments for the boundary quality project is 
in providing their spatial data.

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.
    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.
    Frequency: Annual.
    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 the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-0151.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-22527 Filed 9-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P