The funding for the national NPTS is still not resolved-- we are awaiting Congressional action on the DOT appropriations. This may not be resolved until sometime in the latter half of October.
Each add-on area pays for the samples collected in their own locale, so they are self-supporting. Therefore, the program is going ahead as planned, but the start date would be delayed a month or two.
We are very pleased to have serious interest in the add-on component from three states and eight MPOs totaling about 60,000 households. It's not too late to become an add-on!
We are trying to post updates on the TMIP listserve and the CTTP listserve, but the status of the national funding hasn't changed. When the dam breaks we expect a quick resolution.
Hope this is helpful,
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Census Bureau Reports Final Mail-Back Rates;
Court Hears Preliminary Arguments in Virginia Redistricting Case
Plus: Legislators Propose Fixed Term for Census Director;
Congressional and Monitoring Board news; and more.
The final mail response rate for Census 2000 was 67 percent, two percent
higher than in 1990, Commerce Department and Census Bureau officials
reported at a Washington, DC press briefing on September 19. The
revised figure reflects an additional three million households that
mailed back a form after the April 18 cut-off date - more late forms
than in any previous census. The Census Bureau reported a preliminary
response rate of 65 percent after the mail-out/mail-back phase of the
count ended.
Five states - California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Rhode Island, and
Wyoming -increased their response rates by five percent over 1990,
meeting the Census Bureau's "'90 Plus 5" challenge to state and local
governments. Nearly 9,300 other governmental units also met or exceeded
their challenge goal. Thirteen of the nation's 15 largest cities and 14
of the 15 largest counties equaled or beat their 1990 response rates.
The difference between the mail-back rates for the short and long census
forms was eleven percent. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said
census takers closed most of that gap during follow-ups visits to
unresponsive households.
Secretary of Commerce Norman Y. Mineta praised career Census Bureau
employees for their "tremendous service" to the country, noting that
they work largely out of the public spotlight for most of each decade.
He also highlighted the importance of census data as "fundamental to the
operation of the economy." Commerce Under Secretary Robert J. Shapiro
said the 140,000 Census 2000 'partner' organizations from every sector
of society made this count "a model of civic engagement by the
government." The Census Bureau has begun its campaign to thank
organizations and local governments that participated in the partnership
program.
Dr. Prewitt called the increase over the 1990 mail-back rate an
"historical achievement" because "a decade long trend line in social
behavior is hard to change... and reverse." Census 2000 is the first
since the all-mail census started in 1970 to improve upon the response
of the previous count. The mail response rate dropped from a high of 78
percent in 1970 to 75 percent in 1980 and 65 percent in 1990. The
Census Bureau projected a 61 percent response rate for 2000.
The director also said the high response rates are not predictive of the
count's accuracy. "You can have a quite good census and still not solve
the undercount problem," Dr. Prewitt said, noting that the undercount
affects two to three percent of the population and is disproportionately
high for some population subgroups. He said the Accuracy and Coverage
Evaluation (A.C.E. survey) would give the best measure of accuracy.
The mail response rate represents the percentage of known addresses in
the universe of "mail-back" operations from which the Bureau collected a
questionnaire or Be Counted form by mail, Internet, or over the
telephone. Enumerators later determine that some of those addresses are
vacant or nonexistent housing units. The Census Bureau also counts some
housing units in rural or remote areas, including many American Indian
reservations and Alaska Native villages, by sending enumerators to
verify or determine the address and location, and to conduct an
interview in person. Housing units counted through these
"update/enumerate" or "list/enumerate" procedures are not in the
mail-back universe. Next year, the Bureau will release the mail return
rate, which represents the percentage of occupied housing units that
responded by mail, Internet, or telephone. The return rate is a more
precise indication of public participation in the census.
Response rates for all governmental units are available on the Census
Bureau's web site at <http://rates.census.gov/>
Legislation to set a fixed term for Census Bureau director: The chairman
and ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Census have made
separate proposals to set a fixed term of office for the Census Bureau
director. A bill (H.R. 5257) sponsored by Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL)
would establish a ten-year fixed term for the director, currently the
only political appointee in the agency requiring Senate confirmation.
Rep. Miller called the legislation "the first step in removing partisan
politics from the census" and said a fixed term appointment would give
the director more independence and more protection from partisan
influence. The chairman, who has been at odds with the Census Bureau
over the use of statistical sampling to correct for under- and
overcounts, said in a press release that the Clinton Administration "has
politicized the census and damaged the integrity of our national
count." A ten-year term, similar to that of the FBI director, would
allow a director "to supervise an entire census from planning to
implementation," Rep. Miller said.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) is seeking cosponsors for legislation she
plans to introduce that would establish a five-year term of office for
the director. Rep. Maloney said her bill would "ensure that the Census
Bureau continues to provide the most accurate, non-partisan data
possible." By starting five-year terms in 2002, the congresswoman said,
her proposal would "guarantee continuity during each decennial census."
President George Bush's census director, Barbara Everitt Bryant, did not
take office until December 1989, only months before the start of a
census she did not help plan.
Traditionally, Census Bureau directors leave office when the President
who appointed them does, if not before. The Bureau's director is the
only head of a major statistical agency in the United States who serves
at the pleasure of the president, instead of a fixed term that usually
carries over from one administration to another.
Congressional hearing postponed: The House Subcommittee on the Census
has postponed its hearing, originally scheduled for September 26, to
review a proposed Commerce Department rule giving the Census Bureau
director final say over the decision to release statistically-corrected
census numbers next spring. The panel has not announced a new date for
the hearing.
State legislative activities update: The U.S. Department of Justice told
a federal court yesterday it should dismiss or delay consideration of a
lawsuit filed last April by the Commonwealth of Virginia, seeking
approval for a new state law that prohibits the use of adjusted census
numbers for redistricting. The court scheduled the hour-long hearing to
consider the Justice Department's argument that it cannot determine if
the Virginia law adversely affects the voting rights of racial
minorities until detailed census data are released next March. Virginia
is one of 16 states covered by section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act,
which requires Justice Department approval for any changes to election
law because of past discrimination in election practices. The state's
Attorney General decided to by-pass the "pre-clearance" procedure and
sought direct approval for the law in court.
Virginia's Deputy Attorney General, Frank Ferguson, urged the judges to
allow the case to proceed, saying a delay might prevent the state from
redrawing its legislative district boundaries in time for the 2001
election cycle. Virginia's lawsuit contends that using statistically
corrected census data for redistricting would violate the Census Act,
which the U.S. Supreme Court said (in a January 1999 ruling) prohibits
the use of sampling to derive state population totals used to apportion
congressional districts among the 50 states. The state also contends
the U.S. Constitution bars the use of statistical sampling in tabulating
population counts used for apportionment and redistricting.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia is considering the case, Commonwealth of Virginia v. Reno, et
al (Civil Action No. 1:00CV00751). Either party to the lawsuit can
appeal the lower court's ruling directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. A
group of 15 cities and counties, led by the City of Los Angeles,
recently joined the lawsuit in opposition to the Virginia law.
Congressional Monitoring Board report due: The eight-member Census
Monitoring Board is scheduled to release its next report the first week
of October. A primary focus of the report will likely be the panel's
visits to dozens of Local Census Offices over the past few months, to
observe and evaluate census field operations.
The Board, created in late 1997, has four members appointed by the
President and four appointed by Republican congressional leaders. It
will operate through September 2001. For information on the Board's
activities and copies of reports, visit the web site for the
Presidential members at www.cmbp.gov <http://www.cmbp.gov> and the
Congressional members at www.cmbc.gov <http://www.cmbc.gov>.
Final News Alert: This is the final News Alert the Census 2000
Initiative will distribute. The Communications Consortium Media Center
(CCMC) is grateful to the many organizations and individuals that
received our news updates over the past several years, for their deep
interest in and strong support of an accurate census that collects a
range of critical demographic and socio-economic data. CCMC is
exploring the creation of a similar outreach project to keep Census
Bureau stakeholders informed about key policy decisions affecting the
collection of important socio-economic data in the post-Census 2000
era. We hope to be back in touch with you next year.
Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be
directed to Terri Ann 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.
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Early Fall Update:
Commerce Weighs Comments On Proposed Adjustment
Decision Rule; House Members Spar Over Census Investigation;
Virginia Redistricting Case Attracts More Litigants
Plus: Funding Bills Top Congressional Agenda;
Census Operational Update; Upcoming Stakeholder Events
The U.S. Commerce Department is reviewing comments from members of
Congress, former Census Bureau directors, data users, advocacy groups,
and other stakeholders on a proposed rule to give the Census Bureau
director final say over the decision to release statistically-corrected
census numbers next spring. Former Secretary of Commerce William Daley
announced the proposed rule in June; the 45-day comment period ended in
early August. The department is expected to issue a final rule this
fall.
The Census 2000 Initiative's August 10th News Alert summarized comments
in favor of the proposed rule submitted by four former Census Bureau
directors, as well as advocacy groups such as the Leadership Conference
on Civil Rights and nearly 200 statisticians, demographers, and other
census experts. Since then, the Census Bureau has posted additional
comments on its web site, both supporting and opposing the proposal.
Among those favoring the delegation of decision-making authority are the
American Sociological Association and the Consortium of Social Science
Associations, as well as 27 Democratic members of the California
congressional delegation. Among those submitting comments critical of
the proposed delegation are Michigan Governor John Engler and the
Southeastern Legal Foundation. House Census Subcommittee Chairman Dan
Miller (R-FL) and several Republican colleagues, who co-signed a letter
criticizing the rule, said Congress has vested decision-making authority
exclusively in the Secretary of Commerce.
The proposed rule creates a steering committee of senior Census Bureau
career professionals to evaluate the results of the Accuracy and
Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) survey (designed to measure under- and
overcounts in the direct enumeration) and statistical estimation process
(adjusting the census counts based on the A.C.E. results). The
committee would issue a report to the director, recommending whether
data based solely on the direct enumeration or corrected based on
statistical methods are more accurate. The director's decision on
whether to release statistically corrected data would be final and
shielded from review or reversal by the Secretary of Commerce.
By law, the Census Bureau must release population totals for each state
by December 31, to be used as the basis for apportioning seats in the
U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states. The Supreme Court
ruled in 1999 that a provision of the Census Act bars the use of
sampling methods to derive the population counts used for congressional
apportionment. (The Court issued its opinion in a lawsuit filed by SLF
Executive Director Matthew Glavin.) The Court did not rule out the use
of sampling to produce census data used for other purposes, such as
drawing political district boundaries and allocating federal program
funds to states and municipalities. The Bureau must transmit more
detailed population counts, including race and voting age information,
to the states by April 1, 2001.
Comments submitted as part of the rule-making process are posted on the
Census Bureau's web site, at www.census.gov/dmd/www/Feascom.htm
<http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/Feascom.htm>.
Congressional oversight update: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), ranking
Democrat on the Subcommittee on the Census, accused congressional
Republicans of impeding the census with requests for investigations,
which she said were part of an effort "to stop the professionals at the
Census Bureau from using modern statistical methods" to eliminate the
undercount of racial minorities. At a Capitol Hill press conference
yesterday, the congresswoman said allegations of fraud and rushed
operations were "a thinly veiled attempt to cast a cloud on the census"
and that nearly 100 letters of inquiry to the Census Bureau this year,
from the subcommittee's chairman, were intended "to slow down and
disrupt the process" and "prevent an accurate count." Reps. Eddie
Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Carrie Meek (D-FL) joined Rep. Maloney in
seeking signatures on a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert
(R-IL), calling for an end to "senseless investigations" of the Bureau's
activities and Census 2000 operations.
Responding on behalf of Speaker Hastert to the draft letter,
subcommittee Chairman Miller wrote, "It would be irresponsible to write
the Bureau a 6.5 billion dollar check to conduct the census and turn our
backs, as you would do." He called his panel's oversight of the Census
Bureau "fully warranted" and said the scope of the census required "more
oversight, not less." The congressman pointed to several requests Rep.
Maloney and Rep. Meek had made for investigations of reported
operational problems. Rep. Maloney told reporters she had sought
"isolated" reviews, compared to a "barrage" of requests by the
subcommittee's Republican members.
The letter being circulated by Reps. Maloney, Johnson, and Meek
referenced three investigations related to Census 2000. In July, Rep.
Miller asked the Census Bureau to review counting operations in 15 Local
Census Offices, which he said may have used "improper or fraudulent
procedures" in order to finish their follow-up visit caseloads early.
Later that month, the chairman asked the U.S. General Accounting Office
(GAO) to review e-mails and other communications among Census Bureau
employees pertaining to requests for information from the GAO, Congress,
and other oversight bodies. Rep. Maloney urged the GAO to limit the
scope of its review, calling the proposed request an "unprecedented
invasion of privacy."
Last month, Chairman Miller asked three federal agencies to investigate
the Census Bureau's involvement in a symposium on "challenges facing the
African American community," held in Los Angeles days before the start
of the Democratic National Convention. In a letter to the Justice
Department's Office of Special Counsel, the Commerce Department's
Inspector General, and the U.S. General Accounting Office, Rep. Miller
said "taxpayer resources," including the Census 2000 logo and staff
time, might have been used for "partisan political activities." He
requested "full disclosure of all those who planned, authorized, or
participated in the event," materials distributed, costs, and "financial
donations."
The August 12th symposium, held at the University of Southern
California, was organized by Tavis Smiley, a Black Entertainment
Television talk show host and commentator on the nationally syndicated,
daily radio talk show, "The Tom Joyner Morning Show." Materials
announcing the public event said the forum was "ideally timed to the eve
of the Democratic National Convention" and "has the potential to ignite
the voter participation, coalition-building, and grass roots activism
[needed] to effect change." The materials listed several sponsors,
including "Census 2000," Microsoft, AT&T, and US Airways. The
Democratic National Convention Committee included the symposium on a
list of events taking place in the vicinity of the convention, which
began on August 14, but was not a sponsor of the symposium and was not
represented at the event. During subsequent radio broadcasts, Mr.
Smiley, who signed a partnership agreement with the Census Bureau, and
Mr. Joyner said three regional Census Bureau employees distributed
outreach materials from an exhibit booth at the symposium. In a written
statement, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said Census 2000
'partners' are authorized to use the Census 2000 logo and may ask
partnership specialists to hand out promotional materials at their
events.
State legislative activities update: Led by the City of Los Angeles, a
group of 15 cities and counties has joined a lawsuit over the use of
adjusted census data for legislative redistricting, filed by the State
of Virginia last April against the U.S. Department of Justice. Virginia
enacted a law last spring, barring the use of statistically corrected
census data for drawing congressional and state legislative district
boundaries. The state is one of 16 with a history of racial
discrimination in the electoral process, required by section 5 of the
Voting Rights Act to obtain approval from the Justice Department for any
changes in election law.
Virginia's Attorney General asked the federal district court for the
District of Columbia to declare the new law valid, in light of the 1999
Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the use of adjusted census numbers for
congressional apportionment. The Justice Department subsequently asked
the three-judge court to put off hearing the case, saying it would be
premature to assess the effect on minority voting rights of using
unadjusted census numbers for redistricting until the data are released
next spring. A hearing on that issue is set for September 21.
The municipalities filed a motion in July to join the lawsuit as
'intervenor-defendants,' saying that Virginia's request for a ruling
that the use of statistically adjusted census data for redistricting
violates the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act "goes beyond the
parochial interests" of the state. They said Virginia's new law, which
cannot take effect without approval from the Justice Department or a
federal court, "def[ies] logic" because it requires the use of data the
Census Bureau believes is less accurate than data corrected on the basis
of sampling methods. State Attorney General Mark Earley opposed the
localities' request to intervene.
Joining Los Angeles as intervenor-defendants in the lawsuit are the
cities of Richmond, VA; San Francisco; Inglewood, CA; Houston; Denver;
Oakland, CA; Stamford, CT; Dearborn, MI; and San Antonio, TX; and the
counties of Los Angeles; San Francisco; Dade, FL; Santa Clara, CA; San
Bernadino, CA; and Alameda, CA. The case is Commonwealth of Virginia
v. Reno, et al (Civil Action No. 1:00CV00751).
Commerce/Census appropriations update: Funding bills for the fiscal year
beginning October 1st top the agenda for legislators returning to
Washington this week from their summer recess. The Fiscal Year 2001
Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Appropriations bill, which
includes funding for Census 2000, cleared the House on June 26 and is
awaiting further action by the Senate. The Senate appropriations
committee passed its version of the measure on July 18 (the Senate
language was approved as a substitute to the House bill, leaving only
one numbered bill, H.R. 4690, for consideration). The House and Senate
measures both allocate about $390 million, roughly the amount the
Administration requested, for the Census Bureau to complete Census 2000
operations and begin tabulating and disseminating the data. The House
provided about $50 million less than requested for non-decennial census
statistical programs, while Senate appropriators shaved about $25
million from non-decennial activities. Current year funding for all
government agencies runs out on September 30.
Census operations update: The Census Bureau has completed its field work
and begun the enormous task of tabulating the data collected in Census
2000, Director Prewitt said at a press briefing yesterday in Washington,
DC. Ten of the 520 local census offices shut down last week, with
another 160 set to close within a few weeks. All local offices will be
closed by mid-October.
In order to meet legal deadlines, the Census Bureau is tabulating the
state population totals for apportionment, which include members of the
armed forces and federal civilian personnel stationed overseas, and the
more detailed block-level counts that it transmits to the states next
spring for redistricting. The Bureau will tabulate and disseminate
other data collected in the census on the nation's population, housing,
social, and economic characteristics, for various levels of geography,
on a flow basis over the next few years.
Stakeholder activities: The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard
College (Annandale-on-Hudson, New York) will host a conference on
"Multiraciality: How Will the New Census Data Be Used?" on September
22-23. Participants will discuss the new federal standards for
collecting racial data, which allow respondents to select more than one
race for the first time, and the implications for statistics, civil and
voting rights law, and projecting racial composition in the future.
Joel Perlmann, Senior Scholar at the Institute, and Mary Waters,
Professor of Sociology at Harvard, organized the event. The program and
registration information are available on the Internet at www.levy.org
<http://www.levy.org> or by calling 845/758-7700.
The Commerce Department's Decennial Census Advisory Committee will meet
September 21-22, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel, 5000
Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA. An agenda will be available shortly; the
meeting, which runs from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm on September 21 and 9:00 am -
12:00 noon on September 22, is open to the public.
Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be
directed to Terri Ann 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.
