I will be out of the office starting 07/23/2009 and will not return until
07/28/2009.
If you need immediate assistance please contact Pamela Klein at
pamela.klein(a)census.gov.
Here's the definition of MSA from
Census.gov(http://factfinder.census.gov/home/en/epss/glossary_m.html)
Vishu.
Metropolitan statistical area (MSA)
A geographic entity defined by the federal Office of Management and
Budget for use by federal statistical agencies, based on the concept of
a core area with a large population nucleus, plus adjacent communities
having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.
Qualification of an MSA requires the presence of a city with 50,000 or
more inhabitants, or the presence of an Urbanized Area (UA) and a total
population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). The county or
counties containing the largest city and surrounding densely settled
territory are central counties of the MSA. Additional outlying counties
qualify to be included in the MSA by meeting certain other criteria of
metropolitan character, such as a specified minimum population density
or percentage of the population that is urban. MSAs in New England are
defined in terms of minor civil divisions, following rules concerning
commuting and population density.
Related terms: Consolidated metropolitan statistical area (CMSA),
Primary metropolitan statistical area (PMSA)
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
ctpp-news-request(a)chrispy.net
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 12:00 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: ctpp-news Digest, Vol 65, Issue 6
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Today's Topics:
1. RE: Urban Area Boundaries (Nancy Reger)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:23:36 -0400
From: Nancy Reger <Nreger(a)morpc.org>
Subject: RE: [CTPP] Urban Area Boundaries
To: "ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net" <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
Message-ID:
<03B824D8C8D97C4C8486430CC10843AB3AC0ED0679(a)cygnusx1.morpc.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I have a question about how the ACS will be used to define MSA's---
since the commuter data is key to MSA definition, does anyone know how
these will be defined in the future?
Nancy Reger, AICP
Assistant Director, Transportation
Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission
111 Liberty St. Suite 100
Columbus, Ohio 43215
p (614) 233-4154 / e nreger(a)morpc.org
www.morpc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Ed Christopher
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 2:05 PM
To: ctpp-news maillist
Subject: [CTPP] Urban Area Boundaries
On June 12 FHWA and Census Staff hosted a webinar on the Census Bureau's
plans for defining Urbanized Area Boundaries. At the webinar more
questions were asked than there was time answer. Consequently all the
questions were collected and Q/A developed. It can be downloaded from
the CTPP webinar room by going to http://fhwa.acrobat.com/ctpp1,
entering as a guest and saving the "Census Q and A v8.pdf" file to your
computer.
In the webinar room there are also links to the recording of the
complete June 12 webinar (http://fhwa.na3.acrobat.com/p20171907/) as
well as several other recorded webinars.
For your convenience I have also attached the Q/As to this email.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA Resource Center Planning Team
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL 60443
------------------------------
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End of ctpp-news Digest, Vol 65, Issue 6
****************************************
On June 12 FHWA and Census Staff hosted a webinar on the Census Bureau's
plans for defining Urbanized Area Boundaries. At the webinar more
questions were asked than there was time answer. Consequently all the
questions were collected and Q/A developed. It can be downloaded from
the CTPP webinar room by going to http://fhwa.acrobat.com/ctpp1,
entering as a guest and saving the "Census Q and A v8.pdf" file to your
computer.
In the webinar room there are also links to the recording of the
complete June 12 webinar (http://fhwa.na3.acrobat.com/p20171907/) as
well as several other recorded webinars.
For your convenience I have also attached the Q/As to this email.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA Resource Center Planning Team
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL 60443
POSITION AVAILABLE
OMAHA-COUNCIL BLUFFS METROPOLITAN AREA PLANNING AGENCY (MAPA)
ASSISTANT PLANNER - TRANSPORTATION
Job Description
This position involves technical planning support for the Transportation
Planning Section of MAPA, the metropolitan planning organization for the
Omaha region. The primary area of work will relate to development and
annual update of the regional TIP, staff support for Iowa RPA activities
and committee, staff support for New Freedom and Job Access and Reverse
Commute (JARC) project and committee, coordinating ITS and other
metropolitan transportation activities.
Specific activities will include data collection and assembly,
preparation of estimates and forecasts and data analysis and
presentation. This work requires a high level of quantitative and
analytical skills: familiarity with the TIP, ITS and RPA planning
process is required; some familiarity with GIS and data base application
is required. At times, this position will also be involved in other
areas within the broader transportation planning process and a
background in the overall transportation modeling process will be
helpful.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
The ability to work with local elected officials and, state/federal
officials and the public is essential. The ideal candidate should be
motivated, possess strong verbal and written communication skills, and
have proactive work habits.
This position requires a Bachelor's Degree in transportation or regional
planning or engineering or related studies and three years of
progressively responsible experience, or any time-equivalent combination
of experience and education.
SALARY:
Salary negotiable: $41,653 - $56,856. MAPA reserves the right to hire at
an appropriate level.
Resumes and applications will be accepted until close of business July
31, 2009.
Submit resume to: A.A. Ramsey, MAPA Personnel Officer, 2222 Cuming
Street, Omaha, NE, 68102-4328; Email: aramsey(a)mapacog.org
BREAKING NEWS: SENATE CONFIRMS ROBERT GROVES
AS CENSUS BUREAU DIRECTOR
The U.S. Senate voted today to confirm Dr. Robert Groves as Director of
the Census Bureau, overcoming objections of several Republicans more
than three months after President Obama nominated the renowned survey
methodologist and former Census Associate Director to head the nation's
largest statistical agency. Senators voted 76 - 15 to end debate on the
nomination and then proceeded to give final approval to the nominee by
voice vote.
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the census oversight
subcommittee, told his colleagues that the census was one of the few
specific obligations of the federal government mentioned in the
Constitution and that the decennial census requires thousands of people
and years of preparation. "We can't turn a light switch on next April
and take a census," the chairman said. Sen. Carper called Dr. Groves
"an inspired choice" and said the nominee was "ideally suited to this
position" because of his credentials in survey methodology and his prior
experience as a senior Census Bureau official.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the senior Republican on the Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over
the Census Bureau, said that her committee had "scrutinized this nominee
thoroughly" and had unanimously approved his nomination on May 20. The
Census Director "will need to quickly take action to ensure an accurate,
actual enumeration," Sen. Collins stated, adding that the outcome must
be "accurate, objective, and free from even the appearance of political
interference."
Sen. Collins described Dr. Groves as "superbly well-qualified" to head
the agency. Addressing colleagues who were concerned that the Obama
Administration will politicize the census for partisan purposes, the
senator recounted Dr. Groves' pledges under oath at his confirmation
hearing "to resign and actively work to stop any action to improperly
influence the census for political gain." Dr. Groves also testified at
the May 15 hearing that he had no intention of using statistical
sampling methods to adjust the 2010 census, the senator said, and that
he was "committed to a transparent census process." "I don't know what
more you could ask" of a nominee, Sen. Collins concluded, adding that
Dr. Groves is "not a political person; he is a scientist, a researcher,
a statistician."
Sen. Collins also criticized the Census Bureau for failed procurements
that she said "have not been a pretty picture" and have resulted in a
"dramatic increase in [the] cost of the 2010 census." The senator said
that the large investment in new technology for 2010 had "gone to waste"
because of "gross mismanagement," referring to a significant reduction
in the Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) contract for GPS-equipped
handheld computers to gather information from households during field
operations.
HSGAC Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) called Dr. Groves "a brilliant
social scientist" who is "well-positioned to see [the decennial census]
through to a successful conclusion." "The Administration would have had
a hard time appointing a better-qualified candidate to lead the Census
Bureau," the chairman said in a statement applauding the final vote.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who introduced the nominee at his confirmation
hearing, said Dr. Groves "may be the best candidate ever nominated for
this position." Dr. Groves holds Master of Arts degrees in statistics
and sociology and a doctorate in sociology from the University of
Michigan and most recently served as Director of the University's Survey
Research Center, Institute for Social Research. Sen. Levin noted that
six former Census Directors, appointed by both Republican and Democratic
presidents, had written a letter in support of Dr. Groves' nomination.
The President named Dr. Groves to head the Census Bureau on April 2, but
the nomination stalled after Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Sen. David
Vitter (R-LA) objected to a confirmation vote until they received
assurances from the Administration that there would not be a statistical
adjustment of the 2010 census and that the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) would not play a role in the
decennial count. During today's debate on a motion to "invoke cloture,"
or end debate, on the nomination, Sen. Vitter said he had written to the
Administration in June, asking for assurances that ACORN -- one of
thousands of official 2010 Census partners that have agreed to promote
participation in the census -- "will have nothing to do with the
census." Sen. Shelby said that he had sought similar assurances from
the Administration in March. Both senators said they had not received
responses to their letters.
The two senators discussed charges brought against several workers ACORN
recruited to help with voter registration during the 2008 election
cycle. Sen. Vitter suggested that, as a decennial census partner, ACORN
would perform "exactly the sort of activity of signing people up" as it
did in recruiting workers who produced "fraudulent voter registrations."
As a non-governmental organization, ACORN enlisted workers to help
people complete voter registration applications, but was not in a
position to register voters, which generally is the responsibility of
local registrars who review applications before adding people to the
voting rolls. Sen. Carper pointed out that the role of partner
organizations is to encourage people to respond to the census and that
partners receive no money or grants from the Census Bureau. "This is
not about ACORN," the chairman said, saying the group's employees would
not "go door to door."
The Census Bureau will begin recruiting more than three million
applicants this Fall, to fill about 1.2 million temporary census
positions over the next year. Partner organizations communicate the
availability of census jobs to their constituencies but play no direct
role in considering and hiring census workers or in collecting
information from unresponsive households. All temporary census
employees must pass a test and will undergo FBI background and
fingerprint checks before they are approved for work.
Sen. Shelby said he could not support Dr. Groves if the nominee did not
"denounce" ACORN's role as a 2010 census partner organization. He
expressed concern that the political party "controlling the census"
could affect the distribution of political power in the redistricting
process and "skew" the allocation of federal funds to communities their
members represent. Census data are used to apportion seats in the U.S.
House of Representatives, to draw federal, state, and local district
lines, and to allocate more than $400 billion annually under federal
formula grant programs.
The fifteen Republican senators voting against the motion to end debate
on the nomination were Sens. John Barrasso (WY), Sam Brownback (KS), Jim
Bunning (KY), Saxby Chambliss GA), John Cornyn (TX), Mike Crapo (ID),
John Ensign (NV), Michael Enzi (WY), Johnny Isakson (GA), Jim Risch
(ID), Pat Roberts (KS), Jeff Sessions (AL), Richard Shelby (AL), David
Vitter (LA), and Roger Wicker (MS).
The National Association for Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
(NALEO) Educational Fund, a member of the 2010 Census Advisory
Committee, issued a statement shortly after the final vote, calling Dr.
Groves "the right person to lead the Bureau at this critical time of
planning for next year's enumeration" and saying that the confirmation
"fills an important leadership void at the Census Bureau." The
nonprofit organization urged the Census Bureau to ensure that the 2010
census communications and outreach program "takes into account the
current economic and social realities" caused by natural disasters and
the economic crisis. NALEO also "strongly condemn[ed] the efforts of a
small group of organizations with extremist views, and even a member of
Congress, calling for a boycott" of the census. The National Coalition
of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders has urged undocumented residents
not to participate in the census until the Administration and Congress
adopt comprehensive immigration reform. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
has said publicly that her family will refuse to answer any census
questions other than the number of people living in their household,
even though census response is required by law. "A boycott would only
exacerbate the undercount, which would hurt neighborhoods and
communities," NALEO said. "Encouraging anyone not to participate in the
census is simply wrong."
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant specializing in the census and federal
statistics. All views expressed in the News Briefs are solely those of
the author. Please direct questions about the information in this News
Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to
circulate this document to other interested individuals and
organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the nonpartisan Census
Project, organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center in
Washington, DC. Previous Census News Briefs are posted at
www.thecensusproject.org
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL 60443
For ACS 2005-2007 population and housing occupancy/vacancy estimates, are people finding discrepancies between ACS and other data sources, particularly in sub-county geographies? ACS estimates are controlled at the county level and, like the ACS 1-year data, ACS 2005-2007 population estimates are showing disagreement with other data sources. For example, the Oakland 3-year ACS estimate shows the population at 372,000, when CA Dept. of Finance estimates are over 400,000. This runs counter to the on-the-ground anecdotal experience - ACS shows a loss of 30,000 people during a period that showed an increase of 10,000 housing units.
Will the decennial census correct this? My understanding is that Census 2010 numbers will be used to control 2010 ACS characteristic data. There will need to be some adjustment, however, given that the decennial census benchmarks population at April 1, and ACS uses a July 1 population number. It's also my understanding that population estimates for 2001-2009 will be updated, though retroactive adjustments for ACS characteristics will not be done. Does anyone else know something different about this?
Other thoughts about this?
Thanks,
Shimon
---------------------------------------------------------------
Shimon Israel
Associate Transportation Planner/Analyst
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
101 Eighth Street
Oakland, CA 94607-4700
(510) 817-5839 (office)
(510) 817-5848 (fax)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY2010 Commerce Spending Bill
Census Director Nominee Still on "Hold"
Utah Lawmakers Seek Changes in Census Methods and Universe
MN Rep's Challenge to Census Questions Draws Fire
The Rest of the News
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE APPROVES FY2010 COMMERCE SPENDING BILL
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the spending
bill that will fund 2010 census operations next year, after reducing the
account by $50 million that appropriators believe reflects inflated
assumptions about the cost of mileage reimbursement for census field
workers. The President's budget request assumed a reimbursement of 62.5
cents per mile, 7.5 cents per mile more than the current General
Services Administration reimbursement rate for federal workers, the
committee said.
The bill, H.R. 2847 (as amended by the committee), allocates $7.324
billion for the Census Bureau, meeting the full Administration budget
request for all agency programs, except for the reduction in mileage
reimbursement for temporary 2010 census employees. The Periodic
Censuses and Programs account, which also funds the quinquennial
Economic Census, received $7.065 billion. The Salaries and Expenses
account, which covers ongoing statistical programs such as the Survey of
Income and Program Participation (SIPP), received $259 million,
including funds for a new initiative to improve measurement of the
service sector. The Commerce Department did not issue an "impact
statement" for the bill's Census Bureau allocation, suggesting that the
Administration will not challenge the committee's decision to reduce
funding for mileage reimbursement.
At the mark-up, Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee Chairwoman
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) applauded the "bipartisan cooperation" in
drafting a measure that reflected "difficult decisions" among programs
as diverse as community policing and the National Weather Service. Sen.
Mikulski said funding the 2010 census was "one of our biggest
challenges" and that the failure of technology initiatives was the
panel's "greatest source of frustration." "Everybody counts and
everybody needs to be counted," the chairwoman concluded, in justifying
the roughly $7 billion expenditure for the census next year.
In its report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY2010) Commerce,
Justice and Science Appropriations bill (Senate Rpt. 111-34), the
committee said it "remains apprehensive about the management" of the
decennial census "based on past performance," citing the loss of laptop
computers containing personally-identifiable information two years ago,
and major downsizing of the contract for GPS-equipped handheld computers
to collect information in the field. "[T]he Committee is watchful of
new reforms to ensure no new blunders arise forcing the census to be
delayed or even compromised," lawmakers wrote.
Senate appropriators disagreed with a decision by their House
counterparts to reduce the President's budget request for the 2010
census by $206 million, a move that Census Bureau officials said would
require them to tap into a $573 million contingency fund rather than
risk the consequences of cutting back 2010 census operations and
programs. "Without this safety net," the Senate committee said in its
report, "the census could run the risk of not fulfilling its
constitutional mandate." Sources familiar with the House Appropriations
Committee maneuver believe that the budget reduction may have resulted
from a misunderstanding about the status of Fiscal Year 2009 funds that
appeared to be available for carry-over to the following year, but in
fact were committed to a paid advertising buy under the extensive 2010
census communications campaign.
The Senate committee expressed concern about efforts to reach the
"hardest to count populations" during the census and said it expects the
Census Bureau to hire a "diverse and local pool" of temporary workers
who will "bring language skills as well as cultural understanding" to
the partnership and outreach programs. Appropriators also chastised the
Census Bureau for failing to follow through on recommendations by the
Commerce Department's Inspector General (IG) to improve the accuracy of
the master address list and to contain census costs, and asked the
agency to report back on its plans to implement the IG's suggestions.
REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO BLOCK CONFIRMATION OF CENSUS DIRECTOR
Commerce Chief Appoints Advisers To Fill Gap
The nomination of Dr. Robert Groves to be director of the U.S. Census
Bureau continues to languish in the U.S. Senate, with one or more
anonymous Republican senators objecting to a confirmation vote,
according to Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Commerce
Secretary Gary Locke issued a statement on June 24, saying that, "The
Census Bureau cannot wait for strong leadership any longer. The longer
this nomination is held up, the greater the risk to the accuracy and
success of the 2010 census."
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the subcommittee that oversees
the Census Bureau, said in a statement the following day that, "the
Census Bureau has encountered serious challenges that threaten to
jeopardize the success and cost-effectiveness of the 2010 Census."
Chairman Carper called Dr. Groves a "qualified, experienced candidate
who has received support by members on both sides of the aisle" and
urged senators to "put partisanship aside" to confirm the nominee. "A
leaderless Census Bureau is not likely to pull off an accurate count or
to avoid the costly mistakes that have already plagued preparations for
the upcoming census," the senator warned.
Stakeholder groups continued to express their support for a quick
confirmation vote in the Senate. The National Urban League and the
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, co-conveners of a Unity
Census 2010 Coalition last spring to mobilize the African American
community in support of the census, urged Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-NV) to expedite a vote on Dr. Groves' nomination, saying, "With only
10 months remaining before the April 1, 2010 Census, we believe the
appointment of the Census Bureau director has escalated to emergency
status."
President Obama nominated Dr. Groves, director of the University of
Michigan's Institute for Survey Research and a former Census Bureau
Associate Director, in April; the Senate Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs unanimously approved the nomination on May 20.
Secretary Locke moved to shore up management of the decennial census by
appointing three expert advisers with significant experience at the
Census Bureau, to "provide an up-to-date assessment of the state of
readiness and potential vulnerabilities for the looming 2010 census,"
according to a June 30 statement from the Commerce Department. Kenneth
Prewitt, director of the Census Bureau during the 2000 count and
currently a professor of public affairs at Columbia University, will
advise senior agency staff on overall management of the census. John
Thompson, the Census Bureau Associate Director responsible for conduct
of the 2000 census and now the president of the National Opinion
Research Center at the University of Chicago, will review census
operations. Nancy Potok, the Census Bureau's Principal Associate
Director and Chief Financial Officer in 2000 and currently Chief
Operating Officer of McManis & Monsalve Associates, will provide advice
on contracts and field operations.
The part-time consultants will not have decision-making authority and
will report to him until a new Census director is confirmed, Secretary
Locke said. They will help Census Bureau managers "conduct a
quick-turnaround risk assessment study to identify the chief areas of
concern and prepare the new director to make his own judgments about
priorities." The department chief also suggested that the confirmation
delay will make the director's job more difficult, saying, "[I]f [Dr.
Groves] is to move the Bureau as fast and as far as it needs to go,
he'll need help."
UTAH LAWMAKERS SEEK CHANGES IN CENSUS PROCESS AND COUNTING UNIVERSE
Two Utah representatives are pursuing legislation to correct what they
believe are deficiencies in the counting process and the universe of
Americans counted for apportionment purposes.
Proposal Would Shift Follow-Up Interviews to Postal Workers: Rep. Jason
Chaffetz (R-UT), a member of the House census oversight subcommittee,
has told several news organizations that he intends to introduce a bill
that would establish a "postal holiday" to allow U.S. Postal Service
workers to count residents who don't mail back their census forms. The
congressman told a Fox News program host on June 26 that the Census
Bureau "is partnering with nefarious organizations -- like ACORN -- in
order to hire 750,000 people to go out and do this counting. Now, at
the same time, we have a postal service with 760,000 employees who is a
trusted entity, who already is charged with going door-to-door to every
home in America."
The Census Bureau estimates that people in less than two-thirds of the
nation's housing units will mail back their questionnaires, requiring
census enumerators to visit about 47 million unresponsive homes to
collect responses to the ten questions. Rep. Chaffetz told Fox News
that the Postal Service could suspend mail delivery on Census Day in
order to "do the enumeration that needs to be done to fulfill our
constitutional duty of a census." Under the 2010 census plan, the
non-response follow-up operation is expected to take six to eight weeks,
with enumerators visiting housing units up to six times to try and
gather information from residents or, if necessary, from neighbors or
landlords.
The USPS and Census Bureau jointly studied the possibility of having
postal employees go door-to-door to collect information during the
non-response follow-up phase of the census. The agencies concluded in a
1993 report that using mail carriers to conduct interviews with
unresponsive residents "would have a negative impact on the ability of
the Postal Service to deliver the mail." (Green, S. and H.A. Scarr,
Letter of Transmittal: "U.S. Postal Service-Census Cooperation in
Planning for the 2000 Decennial Census of Population and Housing, U.S.
Department of Commerce, November 5, 1993.)
In 1995, in a report issued by the National Academy of Sciences'
National Research Council, an expert panel looking at ways to update
census procedures agreed with the joint study and concluded that "the
decennial census cannot be conducted by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
in any way that would be cost-effective or an improvement over the
conventional census." In Modernizing the U.S. Census (Barry Edmonston
and Charles Schultze, eds., National Academy Press, Washington, DC), the
Committee on National Statistics panel noted that letter carriers would
need to work significant overtime hours to complete the count and would
likely earn four times the pay of census enumerators, thereby
"significantly increas[ing] census costs." The report pointed out that
postal workers "are not well acquainted with the occupants of
residential addresses" because they often deliver mail to central
locations in apartment buildings or to cluster boxes at the entrance to
suburban housing developments, instead of going door-to-door. The
expert panel expressed particular concern about conducting the census in
rural areas, where the actual physical location of a housing unit often
is unknown to the Postal Service. In addition, the panel said, "people
may have serious concerns about reporting information to letter carriers
who deliver their mail every day."
Bill Would Require Count of All Americans Living Overseas: Rep.
Chaffetz also joined Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) in sponsoring a bill (H.R.
3013) to require the inclusion of private American citizens living
abroad in the state population totals used to apportion seats in the
U.S. House of Representatives following each decennial census. The
legislation comes on the heels of an amendment Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT)
successfully attached to a State Department authorization bill in the
House of Representatives last month, which would require the Census
Director and Secretary of State to study the feasibility of using
passports of U.S. citizens living overseas to include them in the
decennial census for apportionment purposes. (See Census News Brief
#66, June 19, 2009, for more information on the Matheson amendment to
H.R. 2410.)
The Bishop bill would direct the Secretary of Commerce (who has
statutory authority to conduct the census) to take "appropriate
measures" to include all Americans living abroad in the 2010 census, "to
the maximum extent practicable." The counting process would include, at
a minimum, reliance on administrative records submitted by
non-governmental organizations, as well as "Be Counted" forms
distributed at U.S. embassies. In a June 24 statement, Rep. Bishop
noted that previous Census Bureau studies of conducting an overseas
count focused only on "attempts to enumerate all private Americans
living abroad, not just ... an option to count those who wish to be
counted." The Census Act (Title 13, U.S.C., §221) makes response to the
decennial census mandatory. Rep. Chaffetz added, "The government is
spending millions to make sure we are counting illegal immigrants. You
can't tell me that we don't have the same responsibility to U.S.
citizens living abroad."
The State of Utah unsuccessfully sued the Commerce Department after the
2000 census, claiming that the failure to count Mormon missionaries
working abroad during the census cost the state its fourth congressional
district. The state amended its lawsuit to challenge the use of
statistical imputation methods (called "hot deck imputation") in
compiling the final population numbers, saying the addition of people
not counted directly through the mail or door-to-door visits violated
both the Census Act and the Constitution's census clause and also cost
the state a seat in Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002
(Utah v. Evans, 536 U.S. 452) that imputing people into the count based
on the characteristics of nearby households "violates neither the
statute nor the Constitution." A National Academy of Sciences panel
that reviewed the 2000 census reported that about 5.8 million people
were imputed into the count, including about 1.2 million people imputed
into households for which there was no information about the size of the
household or even, in some cases, whether the home was occupied or
vacant. (Citro, Constance F., Daniel L. Cork, and Janet L. Norwood,
eds., The 2000 Census: Counting Under Adversity," The National Academies
Press, Washington, DC, 2004)
The state almost certainly will regain its fourth seat after the 2010
census, according to all apportionment projections. Currently, only
members of the armed forces and federal government civilian employees
assigned to duty stations abroad during the census (as well as family
members living with them) are included in the state population figures
used only for congressional apportionment.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS COUNTER REP. BACHMANN'S ANTI-CENSUS STANCE
Several House Republicans, responding to public assertions by fellow GOP
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) that she would refuse to answer most
questions asked in the 2010 census, issued their own statement to
emphasize "how important it is for every individual to fill out their
census forms." Rep. Bachmann told The Washington Times and other news
organizations last month that she and her family would not answer any
questions in the census beyond the number of people living in their
household, which she claimed was the only information the U.S.
Constitution requires. The congresswoman subsequently told a Fox News
interviewer, "I'm not encouraging Americans not to fill out the
census," according to a June 26 article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), and John Mica
(R-FL), all members of the House Subcommittee on Information Policy,
Census, and National Archives, said in a July 1st statement: "Boycotting
the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in
the best interest of our country." Federal law requires response to all
questions asked in the decennial census and related American Community
Survey (ACS).
Saying that they shared Rep. Bachmann's concern about the inclusion of
the non-profit organization ACORN in the Census Bureau's 2010 Census
Partnership Program, the legislators noted that, "Ms. Bachmann's boycott
only increases the likelihood that ACORN-recruited census takers will be
dispatched to her constituents' homes. Anyone who completes and returns
their census form will remove any need for a census taker to visit their
residence." The congressmen also suggested that refusing to answer all
or most questions in the census "opens the door for partisans to
statistically adjust census results," referring to methods, considered
in the last three censuses to correct undercounts and overcounts, that
will not be used in the 2010 census, according to Commerce Secretary
Gary Locke and Census director-nominee Robert Groves in testimony before
Congress earlier this year.
In a June 18 letter, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), also a member of the
census oversight subcommittee, asked Acting Census Director Thomas
Mesenbourg to respond to Rep. Bachmann's concerns that "outside groups
would have access to census data" and to comment on "the consequences
for the government and the economy if substantial numbers of citizens in
fact followed Rep. Bachmann's advice" not to fully participate in the
2010 census.
A preliminary analysis by the Brookings Institution, a Washington,
DC-based think tank, showed that Minnesota received $6.26 billion (or
$1,204 per person) in federal program grants in Fiscal Year 2007, based
in whole or in part on census data. The six counties within Rep.
Bachmann's Sixth Congressional District received a total of nearly $1
billion in federal program funds based on census data that year,
according to the Brookings analysis.
THE REST OF THE NEWS ...
The House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National
Archives will hold a hearing on Thursday, July 9, to review federal
agency uses of census data. The hearing, which will start at 2:00 PM in
Room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building, originally was scheduled for
June 25. Witnesses include a representative of Social Compact, a
"non-profit organization that breaks down barriers to public investment
in underserved urban areas ... by delivering the reliable,
representative, and up-to-the-minute information about a community's
economic health needed to make critically important investments possible."
The Census Bureau's five Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees will meet
in Washington, DC on July 20, while the 2010 Census Advisory Committee
(CAC) will meet on July 21. The mid-summer meetings for committees that
usually meet twice a year, in the spring and fall, suggest heightened
interest in final census preparations, as the Census Bureau completes
development of its paid advertising campaign, prepares to open hundreds
of local census offices and to recruit three million prospective
temporary census workers, and finalizes residential and group quarters
address lists in anticipation of the start of the population and housing
count next winter.
2010 CAC chairman Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban
League, told CNN during a July 4th interview from the Essence Music
Festival in New Orleans, where he served two terms as mayor, that the
census represented "economic and political empowerment" and that he
wanted to put next year's decennial count on the "radar screen" of
African Americans.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant specializing in the census and federal
statistics. All views expressed in the News Briefs are solely those of
the author. Please direct questions about the information in this News
Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to
circulate this document to other interested individuals and
organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the nonpartisan Census
Project, organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center in
Washington, DC. Previous Census News Briefs are posted at
www.thecensusproject.org.
IN THIS CENSUS NEWS BRIEF:
MN Lawmaker Challenges Mandatory Census Response
Stakeholder Activities
Census Bureau Confirms New Data Tabulation Policy
2010 Census Operational Update
MINNESOTA LAWMAKER CHALLENGES CENSUS RESPONSE REQUIREMENT
In a news interview last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said her
family would not answer any questions in next year's decennial census
beyond the number of people in her household. The two-term
congresswoman told the Washington Times "America's Morning News" on June
17, "We won't be answering any information beyond [how many people are
in our home], because the Constitution doesn't require any information
beyond that," according to an article in the newspaper. Article I,
section 2, of the Constitution, as modified by the Fourteenth Amendment,
requires a census of population every ten years for purposes of
congressional apportionment, in "such Manner as they [Congress] shall by
Law direct." Congress delegated authority for taking the census to the
Secretary of Commerce, who may "obtain such other census information as
necessary" in conducting the decennial census of population (13, U.S.C.,
§141). The U.S. Supreme Court also has applied the Constitution's
"equal protection clause" to a series of cases involving the size and
composition of congressional districts, which historically have been
drawn -- by law or necessity -- using census data.
The Census Act (13, U.S.C., §221) requires responses to the decennial
census. A person who "refuses" or "willfully neglects" to answer any
census questions is subject to a fine of not more than $100. A person
who "willfully" provides false information can be fined up to $500
(§222). The 2010 census questionnaire covers six topics: age; gender;
relationship to head of household; Hispanic origin; race; and tenure
(homeowner or renter). The Census Bureau requests names of people
residing in the household, to ensure full coverage and minimize the
likelihood of duplication, and a telephone number, in case it must
follow-up to obtain missing or unclear information, but it does not ask
for social security or any other identification number. Rep. Bachmann
said in the interview that she was concerned about the role of the
Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN), one of
thousands of national, regional, and local groups that will be 2010
census "partners." "They [ACORN] will be in charge of going door to
door and collecting data from the American public," the congresswoman
said. Last week, Rep. Bachmann criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) for allowing the Rules Committee to limit the number of
amendments offered to the Fiscal Year 2010 Commerce, Justice and Science
Appropriations bill, which funds the Census Bureau. The congresswoman
and Rep. Steve King (R-IA) had hoped to prevent ACORN or its affiliates
from receiving federal funds through agencies covered by the bill; their
amendments were not made "in order" during floor debate.
The 2010 Census Partnership Program encourages organizations to sign an
agreement, "formally pledging their commitment to share the 2010 Census
message and mobilize their constituents in support of the Census
Bureau's goal of achieving a complete count," according to the agency's
web site. The Census Bureau offers promotional, educational, and
outreach materials for partner organizations to use and modify, as
appropriate, to reach their audiences. Partner organizations are
encouraged to display and distribute promotional materials; serve as
Questionnaire Assistance Centers and Be Counted sites; include articles
about the census in their newsletters; and urge their constituents to
complete their census forms, among other activities. Partners also can
refer individuals to the Census Bureau for temporary census jobs;
applicants must take a test and are subject to background checks and
fingerprinting, regardless of who referred them for the position.
Census partners do not receive direct monetary assistance, and they are
not directly responsible for any formal aspect of the enumeration.
Republicans press Census Bureau to explain ACORN partnership: Rep.
Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the senior Republican on the House census
oversight subcommittee, sent a letter to Acting Census Director Thomas
Mesenbourg last week, seeking an explanation for "the continued
involvement of the criminally-charged [ACORN] in 2010 census
operations." The congressman noted that he and other committee
Republicans had written previously to the Census Bureau, questioning the
involvement in the census of "an organization with a history of
falsifying government documents," but that the agency "had failed to
respond."
STAKEHOLDER ACTIVITIES
Census stakeholders across the country are turning up the spotlight on
the importance of participating in next year's population count.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the formation of the
State's Complete Count Committee on June 12, saying, "We must reach out
to all Californians across the state to make certain everyone is
counted so that California gets its fair share of federal dollars and
representation in congress." The committee's 53 members represent a
wide range of sectors that rely on accurate census data, including
state and municipal offices, educational institutions, community service
and public policy organizations, labor unions and businesses,
faith-based groups, and civil rights advocates.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors' Census 2010 Task Force convened at the
organization's annual meeting in Providence, RI, on June 15, to discuss
ways that local governments can promote participation in the decennial
count. Task Force Chairman Mark Mallory, Mayor of Cincinnati, urged his
colleagues to play a leadership role in bringing together diverse
constituencies in support of the 2010 census. Utah's two largest
cities, Salt Lake City and West Valley City, have formed complete count
committees, in an effort to convince their residents -- especially
Latinos, a group local officials believe was undercounted in 2000 --
according to a June 17 article in the Salt Lake Tribune.
The New York Immigrant Coalition held a news conference earlier this
month to educate the City's ethnic media about the importance of an
accurate census for immigrant communities. Participants included New
York Regional Census Director Tony Farthing and New York City's
Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Guillermo Linares.
The Coalition of Bar Associations of Color adopted a resolution
supporting full funding for the 2010 census, calling for a moratorium on
immigration raids during the census, and encouraging its members and
chapters to become 2010 Census Partners and to participate on Complete
Count Committees in their local areas.
Editor's note: This summary of recent stakeholder activities in support
of an accurate 2010 census is not meant to be inclusive (which,
fortunately, would be difficult), but rather to demonstrate the scope of
interest in next year's count, through a few noteworthy examples, and to
share ideas across all communities of interest.
CENSUS BUREAU CONFIRMS POLICY CHANGE ON SAME-SEX SPOUSE RESPONSES
The Census Bureau confirmed that it will change its policy with respect
to tabulating marital status responses in the 2010 census. Spokesman
Steve Jost told The Associated Press (June 19, 2009) that, "They [same
sex married couples] will be counted, and they ought to report the way
they see themselves," promising that publications following the census
would offer a "good data set on which to discuss this phenomenon that is
evolving in this country." Under the new policy, which it has not yet
formally issued, the bureau would tabulate same-sex spouse responses to
the relationship question as married couples, reversing a policy set
during the previous Administration that would have re-coded these
couples as "unmarried partners." The agency had previously cited
provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as prohibiting federal
agencies from tabulating data that reflected gay marriages.
2010 CENSUS OPERATIONAL UPDATE
The Census Bureau will open two of three Data Capture Centers (DCCs) in
the coming weeks, one in Baltimore (June 29) and one in Jeffersonville,
IN (July 8), also home to the bureau's National Processing Center. The
centers will hire thousands of workers to process tens of millions of
questionnaires during the height of census operations next year.
Lockheed Martin won a six-year contract in 2005 for the 2010 Census
Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS), which will capture and
standardize information reported on census forms. Census questionnaires
begin rolling off the presses next month.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant specializing in the census and federal
statistics. All views expressed in the News Briefs are solely those of
the author. Please direct questions about the information in this News
Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to
circulate this document to other interested individuals and
organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the nonpartisan Census
Project, organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center in
Washington, DC. Previous Census News Briefs are posted at
www.thecensusproject.org
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102617629772&s=12&e=001mj_hpcvrJaEdVhKfns-PmffDPW…].
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
