diff --git a/src/core/channel/channel_args.c b/src/core/channel/channel_args.c
index 487db1119a5..0427ce0b8dc 100644
--- a/src/core/channel/channel_args.c
+++ b/src/core/channel/channel_args.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  *
- * Copyright 2015, Google Inc.
+ * Copyright 2015-2016, Google Inc.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include "src/core/channel/channel_args.h"
 #include "src/core/support/string.h"
 
+#include <grpc/census.h>
 #include <grpc/support/alloc.h>
 #include <grpc/support/string_util.h>
 #include <grpc/support/useful.h>
@@ -119,10 +120,10 @@ int grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(const grpc_channel_args *a) {
   if (a == NULL) return 0;
   for (i = 0; i < a->num_args; i++) {
     if (0 == strcmp(a->args[i].key, GRPC_ARG_ENABLE_CENSUS)) {
-      return a->args[i].value.integer != 0;
+      return a->args[i].value.integer != 0 && census_enabled();
     }
   }
-  return 0;
+  return census_enabled();
 }
 
 grpc_compression_algorithm grpc_channel_args_get_compression_algorithm(
diff --git a/src/core/surface/server.c b/src/core/surface/server.c
index 79db13810aa..0928f1e0450 100644
--- a/src/core/surface/server.c
+++ b/src/core/surface/server.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  *
- * Copyright 2015, Google Inc.
+ * Copyright 2015-2016, Google Inc.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -779,9 +779,7 @@ grpc_server *grpc_server_create_from_filters(
     const grpc_channel_filter **filters, size_t filter_count,
     const grpc_channel_args *args) {
   size_t i;
-  /* TODO(census): restore this once we finalize census filter etc.
-     int census_enabled = grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(args); */
-  int census_enabled = 0;
+  int census_enabled = grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(args);
 
   grpc_server *server = gpr_malloc(sizeof(grpc_server));
 
diff --git a/src/core/surface/server_create.c b/src/core/surface/server_create.c
index f30093e06b9..5e37e80948e 100644
--- a/src/core/surface/server_create.c
+++ b/src/core/surface/server_create.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  *
- * Copyright 2015, Google Inc.
+ * Copyright 2015-2016, Google Inc.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -43,9 +43,6 @@ grpc_server *grpc_server_create(const grpc_channel_args *args, void *reserved) {
   const grpc_channel_filter *filters[3];
   size_t num_filters = 0;
   filters[num_filters++] = &grpc_compress_filter;
-  if (grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(args)) {
-    filters[num_filters++] = &grpc_server_census_filter;
-  }
   GRPC_API_TRACE("grpc_server_create(%p, %p)", 2, (args, reserved));
   return grpc_server_create_from_filters(filters, num_filters, args);
 }