ctpp-news May 1999

ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net

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Census 2000 News Alert

by Ed Christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Census Bureau Funding Set through September 30th Census Monitoring Board Co-Chair Resigns Congress is expected to give final approval today to an emergency spending bill that includes extra funds for census preparations this year and lifts a restriction that prevented the Census Bureau and other major government departments from spending money past June 15. The bill also requires the Administration to submit to Congress, by June 1, a revised budget request for fiscal year 2000 (which begins October 1, 1999). The 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 1141) allocates an additional $44.9 million for Census 2000 activities in the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999. This amount is over and above the $1.027 billion already appropriated for Census 2000 for the current fiscal year. The Bureau must expand its operational capacity to support follow-up visits to all households that don't return a census form by mail. In the final bill enacted this week, Congress earmarked the extra funds as follows: * $10.9 million for opening and staffing the 520 local census offices; * $ 4.2 million for training and operational kits for census enumerators; * $ 2.0 million for Telephone Questionnaire Assistance infrastructure; * $ 9.1 million for data processing and telecommunications to support increased door-to-door follow-up activities; * $ 3.7 million for expanded administrative requirements associated with more door-to-door follow-up visits; and * $15.0 million for advertising and promotion. The Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, and the federal judiciary, faced a shutdown after June 15 unless the opposing sides in the dispute over using statistical sampling methods in the census agreed to extend the spending authority for that broad budget account through the end of fiscal year 1999. The FY99 Commerce appropriations bill, enacted last fall, allocated a full year of funds for the covered agencies but terminated their authority to spend money after June 15. The Census Bureau is an agency of the Commerce Department. Funding for 2000: Even as Congress completes action on the supplemental spending bill for the current fiscal year, it is facing tight spending limits on funding for fiscal year 2000 (FY2000). House appropriators have allocated funds available for discretionary spending in FY2000 among the 13 regular funding accounts. The Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary and Related Agencies account received about $30.4 billion, $2.7 billion below the total amount allocated for the account this year. The Senate Appropriations Committee plans to divide up the discretionary funds among its 13 subcommittees next week. The Administration's original FY2000 request of $2.8 billion for Census 2000 activities was compiled before the Census Bureau revised its operational plan to comply with the January Supreme Court ruling on the use of sampling methods for congressional apportionment. That amount is $1.8 billion more than this year's funding amount. The revised plan, which includes follow-up visits to all households that don't return a census form by mail, is expected to cost significantly more than the Bureau's original plan. The Commerce/Justice/State appropriations subcommittee, chaired in the House by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), must figure out how to provide a significant spending increase for the 2000 census over the current level while meeting the overall lower funding cap for the agencies and programs included in the same account. Census Monitoring Board co-chair resigns: Tony Coelho, the Democratic co-chair of the Census Monitoring Board, has resigned to devote his attention to his new post as General Chairman of Vice President Albert Gore's presidential campaign. The eight-member Board was created in late 1997 as part of a compromise agreement between Congress and the Administration to resolve a stalemate over the use of sampling methods in the census. Mr. Coelho represented California's Central Valley in Congress from 1979 - 89. After leaving Congress, he pursued a career in the business sector and since 1994, has chaired the President's Commission on Employment of People with Disabilities. In his letter of resignation to the President, Mr. Coelho said the Board "has made many positive contributions to the Census Bureau's preparations for the 2000 decennial." He also praised the Census Bureau's staff as "among the most dedicated public servants in all of government." The President has not yet named a replacement for Mr. Coelho. State legislative activities: Colorado and Kansas have enacted laws that prohibit the use of census data derived with statistical sampling methods for congressional and state legislative redistricting. Arizona and Alaska have also passed similar laws that are subject to review by the U.S. Department of Justice under "pre-clearance" provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Colorado Governor Bill Owens (Republican) signed Senate Bill 206, which requires the General Assembly and reapportionment commission to use the same data for redistricting that is used to apportion the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states. The Supreme Court ruled in January that federal law bars the use of sampling methods to calculate the state population totals used for congressional apportionment. Kansas Governor Bill Graves (Republican) signed Senate Bill 351, requiring the state to use census figures "identical" to the "actual enumeration" data used for congressional apportionment, to draw district boundaries. Stakeholder activities: The Commerce Department's 2000 Census Advisory Committee will hold its next quarterly meeting on June 17 - 18, at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row Hotel, 2015 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. The committee's charter was renewed earlier this year; Dallas (TX) Mayor Ronald Kirk is the panel's new chairman. The meeting will run from 9:00 - 5:15 p.m. on June 17 and 9:00 - 12:15 p.m. on June 18. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at <terriann2k(a)aol.com>. For copies of previous News Alerts and other information, use our web site www.census2000.org <http://www.census2000.org>. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000 Initiative at <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.

25 years, 5 months

Census Products Road Show

by Chuck Purvis (MTC)

CTPP-News recipients: The Census Bureau is providing some half-day "census products" road shows over the next few months. The next meetings are scheduled for May 25th in Seattle and May 27th in Oakland. They are free. The agenda is tailored to the local audience. Subject matter for our 5/27 agenda in Oakland includes: census 2000 update; data products and dissemination plans; demonstration of the online American FactFinder Data Dissemination System; Geography and Geographic Products; and Census 2000 and the Bay Area. Future census bureau conferences are included on their web page at: http://www.census.gov/mso/www/confpage.html If your region isn't listed, you may want to negotiate with your census regional office to put something together. Ms. Cam McIntosh of the Seattle office does a great job for our census region, but I think her roadshows are just in Northern California / Nevada / Pacific Northwest. cheers, Chuck Purvis, MTC ******************************************************* e-mail: cpurvis(a)mtc.ca.gov Chuck Purvis, AICP Senior Transportation Planner/Analyst, Planning Section Metropolitan Transportation Commission 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, CA 94607-4700 (510) 464-7731 (voice) (510) 464-7848 (fax) WWW: http://www.mtc.ca.gov/ MTC DataMart: http://www.mtc.ca.gov/datamart/ MTC FTP Site: ftp://ftp.abag.ca.gov/pub/mtc/planning/ Personal WWW: http://home.earthlink.net/~clpurvis/ *******************************************************

25 years, 5 months

Census 2000 News Alert

by ed christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Congress, Administration Reportedly Close to Agreement To Avert Government Shutdown Over Census Sampling Dispute Congress and the Administration reportedly are close to an agreement that will keep funds flowing to the Census Bureau and several other government departments after June 15. The spending agreement also would allocate an additional $45 million for census preparations in the current fiscal year, provided the Administration sends a detailed budget for census costs in 2000 to lawmakers by June 1. The extra funds, as well as the authority for the Bureau to continue spending money past June 15, would likely be included in an emergency appropriations bill that Congress is considering this week. However, lawmakers and the White House are still grappling over several key provisions of the underlying bill, making passage of the spending measure uncertain. The Bureau's fiscal year 1999 (FY99) funding bill allocated $1.027 billion for Census 2000 activities but only gave the Bureau authority to spend money through June 15, 1999. The restriction applied to the entire budget account covering the Departments of Commerce, State, and Justice, the federal judiciary, and several independent agencies. (The Census Bureau is an agency of the Commerce Department.) Congressional critics of the Bureau's Census 2000 plan and the Administration agreed to revisit the use of sampling methods to supplement a direct count this spring. If the new agreement holds, it would lift the June 15 cut-off date, allowing the Bureau and other federal departments to continue spending funds through September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The Bureau's request for an extra $44.9 million in FY99 covers expanded field operations, technology infrastructure, and marketing. The request includes $20.8 million to open, staff, and equip local census offices (LCOs), including an additional 44 LCOs, sooner. $15 million would be used for more advertising and promotion activities. $9.1 million would pay for expanded data processing and telephone capacity. The Bureau revised its Census 2000 plan in February after the Supreme Court ruled that the law bars the use of sampling to count the population for purposes of congressional apportionment. To meet that requirement, the Bureau must visit all households that do not mail back a census form, instead of estimating characteristics for a portion of the unresponsive homes. The door-to-door visits (called 'nonresponse follow-up') are the most costly operational phase of the census. The Bureau still plans a large quality-check survey after the direct count, to identify and correct misses and double-counts in the first tally. The agency has not yet submitted a full cost estimate to Congress for implementing the modified census plan next year. The fiscal year 1999 supplemental spending bill was originally drafted to aid victims of Hurricane Mitch. However, the measure stalled when congressional leaders and the President could not agree on how to pay for the emergency spending. The bill was revived as a vehicle for emergency funding to pay for military operations in Yugoslavia and other congressional priorities, many related to defense. Other legislative news: Rep. Mark Green (R-WI) has introduced a bill to change the way prisoners are counted in the census. H.R. 1632 would require the Census Bureau to count prisoners incarcerated in another state as residents of the state that pays more than half of the cost of incarceration. Under the Bureau's residency rules, people are counted at the place they reside regularly as of Census Day. Prisoners are counted at their place of incarceration; college students are counted where they attend school (provided they live away from home). H.R. 1632was referred to the Committee on Government Reform. State legislative activities: A bill that amends the State Constitution to prohibit the use of statistically-corrected census numbers for redistricting purposes took effect in Alaska after Democratic Governor Tony Knowles returned the measure without his signature to the state legislature. Because Alaska only has one representative in Congress, the new law will affect the redrawing of state Senate and House of Representatives district lines. The measure covered several issues relating to the redistricting process in Alaska. In a letter to State Senate President Drue Pearce, the Governor wrote: "To prohibit the redistricting board to use census numbers that may involve sampling is to deny a valuable tool which has been demonstrated to correct undercounting of citizens during the census process. Although it is not known to what extent Alaskans may be undercounted or what effect this may have, this provision elevates partisan politics over the goal of accuracy in census numbers." Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of the state legislature. The redistricting process in Alaska is subject to pre-clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (as amended). The Kansas state legislature passed and sent to the Governor a bill (SB351) requiring the use of census numbers produced by an "actual enumeration" to draw congressional and state legislative district boundaries. Census Monitoring Board news: Republican party activists have called upon Census Monitoring Board co-chair Tony Coelho to resign after Mr. Coelho was named chairman of Vice President Albert Gore's presidential campaign. Mr. Coelho, a former Member of Congress from California, was one of four people appointed by President Clinton in the spring of 1998 to the new, eight-member oversight board. Congressional Republican leaders appointed the other four members. Mr. Coelho has not announced whether he will continue to serve on the Board. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at terriann2k(a)aol.com. For copies of previous News Alerts and other information, use our web site www.census2000.org <http://www.census2000.org>. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000 Initiative at Census2000(a)ccmc.org or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.

25 years, 5 months

Re: Fwd: [CTPP] F74 Codes

by jonathan_d_martin/ny/boc_at_boc＠ccmail.census.gov

I do not have all the facts on this stuff with the F74 on land - but it seems that there is a possible computer glitch transforming certain boundaries to F74. If I receive further news - and i expect to, I will forward it on! Jon Martin

25 years, 5 months

Fwd: [CTPP] F74 Codes

by MGPITTS＠aol.com

This came to me and I thought I should forward it to you. Mary Pitts Huffstetler

25 years, 5 months

all taz-up are out

by Ed Christopher

For all the mpo's we finished boxing and getting ready to ship the rest of the TAZ-UP software, accompanying tiger98s and arcviews. i would suspect that everyone would be getting their stuff by monday may 17. there are still a couple of folks who will be missing one tiger98 file but they will know who they are by the notes dropped into their packages. if you have any questions please direct them towards our ctpp2000 hotline number 202-366-5000. ed christopher 202-366-0412 (mailist note--the mailist has been down for the last few days due to a combination of technical and human errors on the part of the service provider. if you had sent something and it bounced back to you try sending it again. we apologize for any inconvenience.)

25 years, 5 months

F74 Codes

by Todd Steiss

I'm a little confused with this F74 code. In the Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP) documentation it says that boundaries coded F74 are "unacceptable" features on land but "acceptable" features in water (page 63). My TIGER 97 lines on my GIS show red (F74 codes) all over the place in bodies of water but they were not identified as unacceptable boundary features on the paper maps provided by the Census Bureau for the PSAP. Will TAZ-UP differenciate between F74s on land and F74s in water. I used several F74 boundaries in water to define census tracts and blockgroups for the PSAP. I was even told I could add them if necessary. If we can't use F74s in water, I'll have a bunch of long rat tails at the end of my zones because I can't cut across the river until the next bridge, dam, etc. Let me know what you think. Todd A. Steiss

25 years, 5 months

Census 2000 News Alert

by Ed Christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Census Bureau Releases Detailed Population Counts From Dress Rehearsal State Legislatures Weigh In on Sampling Debate The Census Bureau has released more information from last year's Census Dress Rehearsal that confirms higher undercount rates for racial and ethnic minorities. The Bureau conducted a census dry run in Sacramento, California, and Menominee County, Wisconsin that used both direct counting and statistical sampling methods. In Columbia, South Carolina and eleven surrounding counties, the Bureau relied only on so-called "traditional" counting methods. The new information includes population counts for areas as small as census blocks and includes both "adjusted" and "unadjusted" numbers for Sacramento and Menominee. The "adjusted" counts reflect corrections for under - and overcounts based on a quality-check survey (called a "post enumeration survey") conducted in those two sites. In a news release, the Bureau said: "The data showed across-the-board that the undercount, which has been measured in every census since 1940, persists today, but that scientific methods used at two of the three test sites corrected for it." In Sacramento, the overall net undercount was 6.3 percent. The undercount of whites was 4.9 percent, while the rate for African Americans was 8.4 percent; for Asians, 6 percent; for American Indians, 8.6 percent; and for Hispanics, 8.2 percent. Because Hispanics can be of any race, the difference between the undercount of non-Hispanic whites (4.7 percent) and the undercount of racial and ethnic minorities shows what historically has been called the "differential undercount". In Menominee County, which primarily covers the Menominee American Indian Reservation, the net undercount was 3.1 percent. The Bureau reported an overcount of whites (-2.8 percent), while the undercount rate for American Indians/Alaska Natives was 4.6 percent. The complete dress rehearsal results are available on the Internet through the Census Bureau's American FactFinder system at www.census.gov (in the main menu, go to "A" and then to "American FactFinder"). General information on block-level census data is available at www.census.gov/dmd/www/pl94-171.html. State legislative activities: The debate over the use of sampling methods to correct undercounts and overcounts in the census has moved beyond Washington, DC to the states. Several state legislatures are considering bills or resolutions relating to the use of corrected census numbers in the redistricting process. Resolutions generally are non-binding measures expressing the position of one or both chambers of the legislature. In Arizona, Governor Jane Hull (R-AZ) signed into law a measure prohibiting the use of census data "derived from ... the use of statistical sampling" to draw boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts. The Colorado legislature approved and sent to the governor a bill requiring the use of "population data ... that has been used to apportion the seats in the United States House of Representatives among the states" to redraw congressional and state district lines. The New York Assembly passed a resolution supporting adequate funding for a census that includes sampling methods. Other states considering bills or resolutions relating to the use of census data for redistricting include Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. State legislature support and opposition to use of sampling has been generally along party lines. For those states covered under The Voting Rights Act, these legislative actions are subject to Section 5 pre-clearance review before the proposals can become law. The Census Bureau plans to produce one set of state population totals without statistical methods, which will be used for congressional apportionment. It will then conduct a 300,000-household quality-check survey to measure and correct any undercounts and overcounts in the first set of numbers. The corrected counts will be available down to geographic areas as small as census blocks. The fiscal year 1998 census funding bill also required the Bureau to make the census numbers available for all geographic levels without any corrections based on statistical methods. "Apportionment" is the process of determining, after each census every ten years, how many seats each state is entitled to in the U.S. House of Representatives based on its population. The determination is made according to a precise mathematical formula (called the Method of Equal Proportions) set forth in law. Each state must then redraw the boundaries for its congressional districts; a process called "redistricting." The Census Bureau must transmit detailed population counts, including information on race and ethnicity, gender, and age, to the states by April 1, 2001. (This first block-level data available from each census is sometimes referred to as "P.L. 94-171 data," after the public law requiring the Bureau to provide data to the states for redistricting purposes.) Federal law does not require states to use census data for redistricting but most do for practical reasons. States also use census data to set boundaries for their own legislative (usually Assembly and Senate) districts. Legal update: Attorneys for the City of Los Angeles said in an April 15th statement that they believe further lawsuits challenging the use of statistical sampling in the census will have to wait until after the count is finished and the results are sent to the states. Brian Currey, a partner with the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, said, "no lawsuits would be ripe for consideration until after the final census figures are released and used by a state or local government for redistricting." The firm represented numerous cities, counties, states and Members of Congress in the case decided by the Supreme Court in January. Meanwhile, Matthew Glavin, president of the Atlanta-based Southeastern Legal Foundation, criticized congressional leaders of both parties for failing to resolve the controversy over the use of statistical sampling methods in the census. Mr. Glavin was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the use of sampling as unlawful and unconstitutional. In a written statement, Mr. Glavin said: "In a nearly unparalleled abandonment of lawmaking authority, President Clinton, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt have held our system of representative democracy and the American people in contempt by publicly surrendering their duties on the census matter under the guise of 'legislative stalemate." The Supreme Court ruled in January that the Census Act prohibits sampling to derive the state population totals used for congressional apportionment. (While the opinion bears the name Department of Commerce, et al. v. U.S. House of Representatives, et al., the Court actually dismissed that case and issued its ruling based on the claims in Glavin v. Clinton.) Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at terriann2k(a)aol.com. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000 Initiative at Census2000(a)ccmc.org or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals. For copies of previous news alerts and other information, use our web site http://www.census2000.org.

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ctpp-news May 1999