From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Senate Appropriations Panel Considers Request For Additional Census
2000 Funds
Key Chairman Skeptical of "Emergency" Designation for Census
Spending
The Senate Committee on Appropriations held a hearing today to
consider the President's request for an additional $1.7 billion for
Census 2000. Last week, the Senate passed a version of the fiscal
year 2000 Commerce spending bill that only included the $2.789
billion originally requested for the census in fiscal year 2000. At
today's hearing, a key subcommittee chairman asked for more detailed
budget information but was skeptical about designating funds for
Census 2000 as "emergency spending," a move the House spending panel
is considering. The Clinton Administration asked for extra funds to
conduct the decennial count after the Supreme Court ruled that
sampling could not be used to calculate the population of the states
for congressional apportionment.
The only legislator at today's hearing in a cramped room of the U.S.
Capitol was Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), chairman of the
appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and The
Judiciary. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt explained the
agency's need for extra funds, saying that 95 percent of the extra
$1.7 billion was a "direct result" of the January 1999 Court
decision. The Bureau, he said, has added new operations "to improve
the accuracy and completeness of the count without sampling" and
increased quality controls on existing activities, particularly in
rural areas and for the hardest-to-count populations such as the
homeless and non-English speakers.
Dr. Prewitt emphasized the need for a timely appropriation for the
fiscal year beginning October 1. "Census 2000 is well underway," he
said. "The train has left the station. We cannot park this train
on October 1, even for a few days, without severe consequences to
the schedule and accuracy of the census." "An example," the
director said, "is the need to buy air time for the media campaign
in early October, to run census educational and awareness messages
beginning in November."
Eighty-four percent ($1.451 billion) of the extra funds will pay for
field data collection efforts and support activities. Follow-up
visits to all households that don't mail back a form, Dr. Prewitt
said, will increase the workload 50 percent, or by 15 million homes,
over the Bureau's original Census 2000 plan. Reasons for the
increased costs include extending the follow-up phase by four weeks;
screening one million more applicants to fill 300,000 more temporary
positions; opening 44 additional local offices; keeping the four
data processing centers open two months longer; expanding technical
capabilities for payroll and data transmission; re-checking an
estimated 7.5 million housing units initially classified as vacant
or non-existent; visiting housing units built after the address list
was completed; and increasing paid advertising and other promotional
efforts. The Census Bureau also expects lower productivity as the
number of temporary workers grows significantly, "resulting in lower
overall skill level."
Dr. Prewitt also noted that the revised plan saves about $209
million from reducing the size of the quality-check post census
survey (called the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation, or ACE,
program). The final census plan includes a 300,000 household survey
to measure undercounts and overcounts, down from 750,000 households.
Senator questions "emergency" designation for Census 2000: Chairman
Gregg, noting that the Constitution requires a census every ten
years, asked rhetorically: "Is the census in 2000 an emergency?"
The senator was referring to action last week by House appropriators
to designate Census 2000 funds as "emergency spending" to avoid
counting the cost of next year's operations against the restrictive
budget caps on government programs.
Sen. Gregg asked how long the Census Bureau could operate if
Congress provided only $3 billion of the full $4.512 billion at the
start of the fiscal year. Dr. Prewitt said most of the money is
spent from March to July, when the forms are mailed and most
follow-up visits and data processing takes place. The chairman
asked for more detailed information on the flow of spending each
month in fiscal year 2000 and on plans to hire 300,000 more
enumerators and other field staff than originally projected. In
1990, Congress passed a $100 million emergency spending bill in the
spring when a lower-than-expected mail response forced the Census
Bureau to raise hourly pay rates and hire more enumerators.
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.orghttp://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.
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Census Funding Bills Move Forward in House and Senate;Path to Final Action in the Fall Still Rocky
Census Bureau Clarifies Policy on Hiring Non-Citizens
The House of Representatives took its first step yesterday toward funding next year's census as an Appropriations Committee panel approved its version of the Commerce spending bill for the fiscal year that starts on October 1, 1999. The Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and The Judiciary, chaired by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY),
allocated about $4.5 billion for final census preparations and operations. The amount includes an extra $1.7 billion the Administration requested on June 1st to pay for a revised plan without sampling to count some of the anticipated 46 million households that won't mail back a questionnaire.
The 1997 balanced budget law forced House and Senate appropriators to work within spending limits for discretionary (i.e. non-mandatory)
programs that are below this year's levels. The committees have been shifting money among the 13 main federal budget accounts to meet spending priorities while sticking to the overall budget ceiling. Before the Commerce subcommittee met, appropriators added to funds to its account to bring the total spending level for the fiscal year 2000 (FY00) measure to $35.8 billion.
The subcommittee paid for the large jump in census costs (this year's Census 2000 allocation is $1.8 billion) by classifying Census 2000 funding as "emergency" spending. Budget rules exempt emergency spending from annual caps, giving lawmakers a way to spend more without cutting
funds for other programs. It is not clear whether the full House, the Senate, and the Administration will support such a funding maneuver. The Commerce-Justice-State bill approved by the subcommittee includes $35.8
The Senate also debated its version of the FY00 Commerce spending measure this week. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill (S.1217) more than a month ago that does not include the extra funds the Administration requested to comply with a January Supreme Court decision. The Court ruled that federal law prohibits sampling methods
to calculate the state population totals used for congressional apportionment.
Several senators, including Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), urged full funding for census
operations. But they declined to offer amendments to provide the money, noting that the appropriations panel will hold a hearing (possibly next week) to review the request for supplemental funds. The Senate approved S. 1217 by voice vote yesterday.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the senior Democrat on the census oversight subcommittee, said that while the funding level in the House bill is "great news," the "Republicans created this mergency" by failing to support a "less expensive, more accurate census plan." Congress tentatively plans to start its summer recess on August 7; legislators would not return to Washington until after Labor Day.
Census 2000 hiring policy changes: The Census Bureau has issued a new policy regarding citizenship requirements for temporary Census 2000
jobs, including enumerator, office manager, and partnership specialist positions. A waiver granted by the Department of Commerce will allow
the Bureau to hire employees without giving priority to U.S. citizens. Job applicants must be legally eligible to work in the United States.
The revised policy reflects the Bureau's goal of hiring census workers who live in the neighborhoods they will count. Originally the Bureau said it would hire non-citizens only if qualified citizens are not available, in accordance with federal hiring rules. Immigrant advocates countered that communities where large numbers of non-citizens live would be hard to count accurately unless local residents are hired to conduct outreach activities and visit unresponsive households. The Bureau said it would change its recruitment and training materials to
remove citizenship as a criterion. The agency says it must hire about 860,000 temporary workers to conduct the 2000 census.
Congressional hearing planned: The House Subcommittee on the Census will hold a hearing on July 27th to review the Census 2000 paid advertising campaign and the Census in the Schools program. The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. in room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building. The panel is expected to hear testimony from the Census Bureau, Census 2000 advertising firms, school materials developer Scholastic, Inc., and the Bureau's stakeholder advisory committees.
Last March, the Committee on Government Reform approved several measures sponsored by census panel Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL), including bills to authorize $300 million for census outreach and advertising and to increase outreach to schools and teachers. Although there were no hearings on the legislation, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said at the time that he did not oppose the proposals as long as Congress allocated sufficient funds for the activities.
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>.
To all --
It has come to our attention that the City/Place boundaries currently
showing up in the TAZ-Up software is actually the boundaries as they were in
the 1990 Census. TIGER does have updated boundaries within them. If you
find a need for updated boundaries as you delineate your TAZs, simply e-mail
me and we'll process your counties and e-mail you back a file. You'll be
able to add these new boundaries with the "Add a Theme" function that already
exists in the software.
If you desire these, make sure your e-mail includes the following:
Your name
MPO organization name
Your e-mail address
A list of the Counties, with their state & county codes
(i.e., 37085), for all the counties you're working on.
Depending on the load, we should be able to send them back to you in
about two days from receipt of your e-mail.
Thanks
Kim Brace
Election Data Services, Inc.
With the help from Howard Simkowitz and Caliper Corp I was able to use TransCAD 3.5 and their District Management tools for the Phase Two Census work. The key is their "atomized polygons." Although the jury is still out, I feel obliged to other TransCAD users in the group to report the procedures used in Indianapolis. The attached is that initial effort. I will refine that document as we gain more experience in our operations.
So far, I am impressed with the ease of Phase 2 Utilities. Due to the messy natures Census segments, I have not yet to assess the accuracy of tagging operations. I have certainly achieve significant time saving by tagging the existing TAZ layer to the TIGER polygons. Please consider the attached very preliminary working document. I would welcome any comments and questions.
Sweson Yang, AICP
Chief Transportation Planner
City of Indianapolis/Indianapolis MPO
(317) 327-5137 FAX: (317) 327-5103
E-mail: syang(a)IndyGov.org
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Funding Tops List of Census Concerns As Congress Tackles Fiscal Year
2000 Spending Bills
Operational Update: Address List Appeal Process Set
With Congress returning to work in Washington, D.C. this week, the
schedule for considering the appropriations bills that will fund
Census 2000 operations next year is still unclear. The Senate
Committee on Appropriations approved its version of the Fiscal Year
2000 Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary and Related
Agencies Appropriations bill (S. 1217) last month, but Senate
leaders have not announced a date for the full Senate to consider
the measure. The committee-approved bill allocates $2.789 billion
for census operations but does not include an extra $1.723 billion
the Administration requested on June 1 to pay for its revised census
plan.
The Senate Appropriations Committee modified the amount of money
each of its 13 subcommittees can spend on non-mandatory programs in
fiscal year 2000 (FY00). The committee increased the discretionary
spending limit for the Commerce-Justice-State account from $28
billion to $29.5 billion, still about $4 billion less than the
current year's (FY99) funding level of $33.3 billion for that
account.
In the House, the appropriations Commerce-Justice-State subcommittee
has tentative plans to consider its version of the spending bill
during the week of July 19. The panel, chaired by Rep. Harold
Rogers (R-KY), has not released a draft bill.
Census long form still topic of debate: When the Senate takes up the
FY00 spending bill that covers the Census Bureau, Senator Sam
Brownback (R-KS) may offer an amendment to add questions on marital
status to the census short form. The senator is circulating a draft
amendment that would require the Census Bureau to collect
information on respondents' marital status, their age when married,
and previous marriages from all households in the 2000 census.
Senator Brownback was a member of the Committee on Governmental
Affairs, which oversees the census, in the 105th Congress (1997 -
98).
Three years before each census, the Census Bureau must report to
Congress the topics it will cover on the census forms. It must
report the actual questions it will include on the short and long
forms two years before the census starts. The Bureau notified
Congress in March 1997 that it would include a question on marital
status only on the long form, which goes to one in six households
(about 17 percent of all households). Information on marital status
is needed to administer federal programs but is not required for
areas as small as census blocks, the smallest geographic unit for
reporting data collected from 100 percent of the nation's homes.
The 1990 census asked about marital status on the short form that
goes to all households. In 2000 the census will include one
question asking long form respondents if they are or have ever been
married, or are currently widowed, separated, or divorced. Private
contractors have already started printing the more than 120 million
questionnaires that are needed for the 2000 census.
More legislative news: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the senior
Democrat on the census oversight subcommittee, has introduced
legislation to require a "special census" in 2003 of private
American citizens living overseas. Rep. Maloney said that while it
was too late to include Americans living abroad in the 2000 census,
she was "impressed by the patriotic desire, organization, and
planning ...overseas Americans have devoted to being counted." The
"Census of Americans Abroad Act" (H.R. 2444) was referred to the
Committee on Government Reform.
Last month, the census subcommittee held a hearing on proposals to
count all Americans living abroad in the census. Rep. Benjamin
Gilman (R-NY) introduced a resolution (H. Con. Res. 129) expressing
the "sense of the Congress" that Americans living overseas should be
counted in the 2000 census. The Census Bureau will use
administrative records from the Defense Department and other federal
agencies to count military personnel and federal civilian employees
stationed overseas in the 2000 census for congressional
apportionment purposes only.
Final rules set for address list appeals: The Census Address List
Appeals Office, an independent office established by the Office of
Management and Budget, has issued final rules governing pre-census
challenges to the census address lists under the Local Update of
Census Addresses (LUCA) program. The rules provide a final
opportunity for local and Tribal governments that participated in
address development activities (the LUCA program) to challenge the
address list for their jurisdiction before the census starts in
March 2000. Localities may appeal Census Bureau decisions not to
accept additional addresses or corrections submitted during the LUCA
process.
The rules were published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, June
30, 1999, and can be found in Vol. 64, No. 125, Part V, pp.
35548-35558. The rules, entitled "Procedures for Participating in
the Census Bureau Reconciliation and the Office of Management and
Budget Appeal Processes for the Development of the Census 2000
Address List," are also available through the National Archives and
Records Administration web site at www.nara.gov/fedreg
<http://www.nara.gov/fedreg>. Stakeholders may also contact Mr.
Phil Fulton, director of the Appeals Office, for more information at
202/208-4613.
Congressional staff changes: Thomas Hofeller, staff director of the
House Subcommittee on the Census, is leaving the subcommittee to
oversee post-2000 census redistricting efforts for the Republican
National Committee. Mr. Hofeller, a seasoned redistricting expert
for the GOP, assumed the top staff position when the census panel
was created in early 1998. The subcommittee's deputy staff
director, Thomas Brierton, has been named "Acting Director." Mr.
Brierton's congressional experience includes legislative work for
Rep. (now Speaker) J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Florida Rep. Dan
Miller chairs the census oversight panel.
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 . 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.
