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.
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/
*******************************************************
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.
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
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.)
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
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.
