2012 Survey of Business Owners

SBO-1/2-L11

(2012)

Please reply to:

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

1201 EAST TENTH STREET

JEFFERSONVILLE IN 47134-0001

FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ECONOMIC PROGRAMS

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

We have not received your 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons (SBO) questionnaire (Form SBO-1 or SBO-2) which was mailed to you several weeks ago. These data are essential to business and government decision making. Information from your business is needed to provide reliable data for your industry and geographic area.

We remind you again that your response to this survey is mandatory under Title 13 of the United States Code. Applicable provisions of the law are shown on the back of this letter. If you recently submitted your report, we thank you and ask that you disregard this notice.

Enclosed is a duplicate survey form in the event the original one did not reach you or was misplaced.

Be sure to read all instructions before completing the form. You may use estimates if book figures are not readily available.

Please complete the survey within 10 days and use the enclosed preaddressed envelope to return it to the Census Bureau or report electronically by using our online interactive application, Centurion. To use this secure user-friendly application, go to <census.gov/sbo2012>, where you will find instructions for using Centurion. To help you complete the survey, an enclosure with answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the SBO has been provided.

If you need additional information, our customer help line (1-888-824-9954) is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Eastern time. When calling, please refer to the 11-digit User ID

shown to the left of the address label on the report form.

Si usted habla español y necesita ayuda para completar su cuestionario, llame sin cargo alguno al

1-888-824-9954, entre las 8 a.m. y 6 p.m., hora del este, de lunes a viernes.

Your prompt response will enable us to keep follow-up costs to a minimum. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

William G. Bostic, Jr.

Enclosures

QUOTES FROM TITLE 13 – UNITED STATES CODE (U.S.C.)

For more details, see http://bhs.econ.census.gov/bhs/pages/legal.html

PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION – SECTION 9

9. Information as confidential; exception

(a) Neither the Secretary, nor any other officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or

agency thereof, or local government census liaison, may, except as provided in section 8 or 16 or chapter 10

of this title or section 210 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related

Agencies Appropriations Act, 1988 –

1. use the information furnished under the provisions of this title for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which it is supplied; or

2. make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual under this title can be identified; or

3. permit anyone other than the sworn officers and employees of the Department or bureau or agency thereof to examine the individual reports.

No department, bureau, agency, officer, or employee of the Government, except the Secretary in carrying out the purposes of this title, shall require, for any reason, copies of census reports which have been retained by any such establishment or individual. Copies of census reports which have been so retained shall be immune from legal process, and shall not, without the consent of the individual or establishment concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding.

AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT ECONOMIC CENSUSES – SECTION 131

131. Collection and publication; five-year periods

The Secretary shall take, compile, and publish censuses of manufactures, of mineral industries, and of other businesses, including the distributive trades, service establishments, and transportation (exclusive of means of transportation for which statistics are required by law to be filed with, and are compiled and published by, a designated regulatory body), in the year 1964, then in the year 1968, and every fifth year thereafter, and each

such census shall relate to the year immediately preceding the taking thereof.

AUTHORITY TO COLLECT PRELIMINARY AND SUPPLEMENTAL STATISTICS – SECTION 193

193. Preliminary and supplemental statistics

In advance of, in conjunction with, or after the taking of each census provided for by this chapter, the Secretary may make surveys and collect such preliminary and supplementary statistics related to the main topic of the census as are necessary to the initiation, taking, or completion thereof.

MANDATORY PROVISIONS OF LAW – SECTION 224

224. Failure to answer questions affecting companies, businesses, religious bodies, and other organizations; false answers.

Whoever, being the owner, official, agent, person in charge, or assistant to the person in charge, of any company, business, institution, establishment, religious body, or organization of any nature whatsoever, neglects or refuses, when requested by the Secretary or other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, to answer completely and correctly to the best of his knowledge all questions relating to his company, business, institution, establishment, religious body, or other organization, or to records or statistics in his official custody, contained on any census or other schedule or questionnaire prepared and submitted to him under the authority of this title, shall be fined not more than $500¹; and if he willfully gives a false answer to any such question, he shall be fined not more than $10,000.

¹The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (18, U.S.C. 3551 et seq.) supersedes this penalty amount and specifies a fine of not more than $5,000.

SBO-1/2-L11 (2012)