The Census Bureau respectfully requests your tribe’s participation in a virtual tribal consultation to receive feedback and comments on the Federal Register Notice (FRN) Decennial Census of Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions, published on Thursday, September 10, 2026, 2026-18481.pdf.

The virtual tribal consultation is scheduled for Friday, October 2, 2026, from 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET and will be held using the Microsoft Teams webinar platform. Registration information for the tribal consultation is listed below.

The Census Bureau’s procedures for outreach, notification and consultation ensure involvement of tribes, to the extent practicable and permitted by law, before making decisions or implementing policies, rules, or programs that affect federally recognized tribal governments.  These meetings are open to citizens of federally and state recognized tribes by invitation. The U.S. Census Bureau strives to promote transparency throughout the rulemaking process and ensure all affected parties are kept well informed about developments and impacts related to the decennial census short-form questionnaire by actively sharing information and updates.

In this instance, the Census Bureau is providing a two-week advance notice of consultation—as opposed to the standard 30-day notice that it aims to provide—in order to ensure that it is able to meet all of the operational deadlines in advance of the 2030 Census as well as its obligations in the ongoing lawsuits related to the 2020 Census.

This virtual tribal consultation is an opportunity for tribes to provide feedback on the proposed addition of two new parts to the Code of Federal Regulations governing the decennial census of population and housing, published on Thursday, September 10, 2026.  We value your tribe’s participation. To ensure your input is considered during the decision-making process, comments on the FRN may be submitted electronically or by mail by Monday, November 2, 2026.

Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov and enter USBC-2026-0628 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.

Mail: Submit written comments to 4600 Silver Hill Road, Designation: ADDEMO/FRN, Washington, DC 20746.