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Census 2000 News Alert (very long)

by ed christopher

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.

25 years, 6 months

Urgent: Proposal for reporting travel time and departure time in PUMS 2000.

by Nanda Srinivasan

In the July CTPP Status Report (http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/newsltr/sr0700.html), we mentioned the Census Bureau proposal for PUMS 2000 to round travel time to work to five minute intervals, and round departure time to work to 15 minute intervals. Dr. Ashish Sen, Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Mary E. Peters, Chair, AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning sent a letter to the Census Bureau expressing our concerns. Since then, the Census Bureau assigned Phil Salopek to work with the Department of Transportation and AASHTO to address our concerns. The following are the suggestions of the CTPP Working Group for reporting Travel time and Departure time in PUMS 2000. We would like your comments on our proposal. Please write to Nanda Srinivasan at ctpp(a)fhwa.dot.gov (phone: 202-366-5021) by September 1, 2000. Thank you! Nanda Srinivasan Proposal for PUMS: To protect individual confidentiality, the Census Bureau is generally using two approaches to reduce the chance of disclosure. For variables that are considered to form a continuous distribution, top coding is being used. At the national level, the top category must contain at least: a) 0.5% of the total US population (about 1.4 million persons), or b) 3% of the subpopulation or universe of the variable. The smaller result of a) and b) may be used. For variables that are categorical in nature, the Census Bureau is requiring that there be at least 10,000 persons (nationwide) in any specified category or grouping of values. There is no restriction on how the categories are formed, as long as they each contain enough people. If a category that has been specified beforehand turns out to have too few cases in it, the category will be combined with another one. Travel time: Travel time is a continuous variable. We would like Travel time to be reported in individual minutes between 1 and 89 minutes, and 90 and over as a top code. Explanation: According to the 1990 census 1.7 million people took 90+ minutes to get to work (but only about 850,000 took 91+ minutes). For criterion b) we would use 3% of the number of workers not working at home (111,664,249), or 3.3 million people. Since the result of criterion a) is smaller, for 2000 PUMS we could expect to get individual minutes of travel time from 1 to 89 minutes, with the top category being 90+ minutes. Departure time: We believe that time leaving home to go to work (departure time) should be treated as a categorical variable. We recommend the following scheme: 1. Midnight to 3 a.m. - 30 minute intevals. 2. 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. - 10 minute intervals. 3. 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. - 5 minute intervals. 4. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. - 10 minute intervals. 5. 7 p.m. to midnight - 15 minute intervals. The attached adobe acrobat (.pdf) file provides the proposed specification of categories.

25 years, 6 months

Census 2000 News Alert

by ed christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Former Census Directors Support Proposal Giving Bureau Chief Final Say Over Statistical Adjustment Decision Plus: Census Bureau Issues Report Addressing Concern Over Rushed Household Visits Four former Census Bureau chiefs co-signed a letter of support for a proposed Commerce Department rule that would delegate to the Bureau director the decision over whether to release statistically corrected population numbers. The four directors, whose service spanned Republican and Democratic administrations in the years after the 1970 count, said the proposed delegation from the Commerce Secretary to the Bureau director "puts the decision with scientific professionals where we believe it belongs." The comments, submitted for the rule-making record, were signed by Vincent Barabba (1973-76 and 1979-81); John G. Keane (1984-89); Barbara Everitt Bryant (1989-93); and Martha Farnsworth Riche (1994-98). The agency's professional staff, the directors wrote, are "more capable than others of judging and recommending whether the corrected 2000 data more accurately reflects the U.S. population than does the enumerated count released earlier for apportionment purposes." By law, the Bureau must transmit detailed census data to the state legislatures by April 1, 2001, for use in the redistricting process. The agency's current head, Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, has said the Bureau will determine by the end of February 2001 if the statistically adjusted numbers are more accurate. Drs. Bryant and Riche also spearheaded a letter from more than 180 demographers, statisticians, business leaders, academics, and other census experts supporting adoption of the proposed rule. The letter, circulated with assistance from the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, notes that a committee of senior Census Bureau professionals would advise the director on whether the results of a quality check survey (the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) survey) and related statistical estimation would improve the accuracy of the data compiled only through direct counting methods. The full text of the letter and a listing of signatories are posted on the web at www.lacounts2000.org. A dozen organizations representing religious, women's, labor, and civil rights interests submitted formal comments in support of the proposed rule. In a statement announcing the joint letter, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Executive Director Wade Henderson said, "We strongly support the Secretary of Commerce's determination that [Census Bureau] experts ...are most qualified to decide whether to release statistically corrected population totals to the states." Joining the LCCR as signers on the comment letter were top officials from the National Council of La Raza, American Association of University Women, Arab American Institute, United Methodist Church, Organization of Chinese Americans, Housing Assistance Council, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, United Church of Christ, People for the American Way, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and the American Federation of Government Employees. Former Secretary of Commerce William Daley announced the proposed rule in June; the 45-day comment period ended last week. All 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. Census Bureau issues report on 15 local offices cited by House chairman: The Census Bureau has completed its review of field work in 15 Local Census Offices (LCOs) and found "no cause to re-enumerate" households that census takers visited as part of the 'nonresponse follow-up' operation, Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said in an August 3 letter to Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL), chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Census. Chairman Miller asked the Bureau to review field operations in the 15 offices last month, saying an analysis by his staff of agency data tracking the progress of follow-up visits to households that did not mail back their census forms revealed "disturbing characteristics" that suggested "a rush to finish at the expense of quality." Dr. Prewitt charged that the congressional staff analysis "seriously misrepresents the quality of the census effort" in the 15 cited offices and "calls into question the dedication, honesty, and commitment" of the employees in those areas. He said high case completion rates both early and late in the household visit phase, which ran from late April to late June, are "attributable to documented operational efforts by the Census Bureau and to exceptional promotion efforts by the local community." Rep. Miller had expressed concern that "improper or fraudulent procedures" may have led to "early peak" and "late surges" in the nonresponse follow-up work. The analysis by his staff also cited "high" rates of deleted addresses from the Bureau's Master Address File, as well as "high" rates of partial interviews and reliance on information from neighbors or other non-household sources to complete caseloads, as evidence of irregular procedures. Dr. Prewitt questioned the staff's conclusions and said the Bureau's tracking data "cannot be analyzed in isolation or without a comprehensive understanding of the local conditions." The director said the Bureau is working separately with the Commerce Department's Inspector General to investigate allegations of fraud or falsification of data in a handful of areas. He again disputed the congressman's description of the count as a "rushed census," noting that 'Quality Counts' operations "indicate ongoing, close attention to every procedure that can increase coverage and/or improve data quality." The Bureau's findings, contained in a report entitled, "Census Bureau Review of Local Census Offices Profiled by the Subcommittee," are posted on the agency's web site at www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2000/cb00cn53.html. 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 . Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000 Initiative at <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.

25 years, 7 months

Metropolitan Planning Organization Coordinator

by Steve.Gramm＠state.sd.us

TRANSPORTATION SPECIALIST II - Pierre, SD Job #11-2200-08042000 (A separate application is needed for each Job #). South Dakota Department of Transportation, Planning and Engineering/Planning and Programs Salary: $15.21 per hour minimum, salary negotiable within N17 Range Position Purpose: This position is the liaison between the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) of Rapid City, Sioux Falls, and Sioux City. This position: * advises DOT upper management of the MPO activities and studies that will affect DOT interests; * represents DOT at MPO technical advisory and executive policy committee meetings that include high-level elected and appointed officials from the state's largest cities and counties; * ensures compliance with state and federal statutes, rules and regulations, and policies; * coordinates special studies; * compiles and prepares studies, presentations, memoranda, letters, plans, and responses as required; * coordinates local and regional corridor studies; * coordinates street and highway improvements between the state and MPO; * approves MPO work activities; * provides technical assistance using computerized traffic forecasting models. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Knowledge of: * modes of transportation; * sources of state and federal highway revenue; * statistical methods and their applications; * principles and practices of planning; * traffic forecasting; * public administration; * revenue forecasting as it is related to public finance; * fiscal procedures; * grant procedures; * applicable federal and state regulations. Ability to: * plan and organize research activities and studies; * gather, analyze, and interpret data; * interpret applicable laws and regulations and apply them appropriately; * assess problems and determine corrective actions or alternatives; * use a computer and appropriate applications; * coordinate work activities with other agencies; * represent DOT interests with high-level local officials; * meet and work effectively with the public; * communicate sufficiently to moderate meetings and facilitate public involvement. Comments: Travel is required each month in various parts of the state, usually overnight. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS: A questionnaire will be mailed to you after your application is received by the Bureau of Personnel. The questionnaire must be completed and returned to the Bureau of Personnel, 500 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501. Your application will not be considered without the questionnaire. Closing Date: Until Filled FOR AN APPLICATION PLEASE CONTACT: (Online application available at website) South Dakota Bureau of Personnel Central Office Capitol Building 500 East Capitol Avenue Pierre, SD 57501-5070 (605) 773-3148 (605) 773-4344 (fax) http://www.state.sd.us/bop/bop.htm

25 years, 7 months

Census 2000 Initiative News Alert

by ed christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> House Chairman Says Rush To Finish Put Quality of Count at Risk, But Census Director Says Charges Are Rush to Judgment Plus: Update on Census Operations Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL), chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Census, called for a review of counting operations in 15 Local Census Office areas where he said "improper or fraudulent procedures may have been employed." At a July 25 press conference in Washington, DC, Chairman Miller said a staff analysis of Census Bureau data tracking the progress of follow-up visits to households that did not mail back their census forms revealed "disturbing characteristics" that suggested "a rush to finish at the expense of quality." The congressman also cited complaints he said his office received from local census managers and enumerators who were concerned about pressure to finish their 'nonresponse follow-up' (NRFU) workloads early. Rep. Miller said his staff identified seven census offices where there were "early surges" in completing follow-up visits to unresponsive households: Hialeah, FL; Florence, AL; Las Vegas; Rapid City, SD; and East Los Angeles, Commerce, and Santa Ana, CA. The Census Bureau previously announced its decision to re-enumerate the entire NRFU caseload in Hialeah, after an investigation showed a failure to follow census procedures. Rep. Miller also identified nine census offices where he said "late surges" in completing the follow-up caseloads, as well as high rates of vacancy, deleted addresses, single-person households, and cases completed with 'proxy' data from neighbors or landlords, might indicate "fraud or irregularity": Atlanta West; Chicago Near North and Far South; Marion County, IN; Newark, NJ; Queens (NY) Northwest; New York Northeast; Newcastle, DE; and Philadelphia North. The chairman asked the Census Bureau to review the count in the 15 offices, which he noted were responsible for many hard-to-count areas with large African American, Latino, Asian, and American Indian populations. He also asked the Commerce Department's Inspector General to audit work in three of those offices - Chicago Near North, Atlanta West, and Queens Northwest -- to ensure that "proper quality controls" were implemented. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt vigorously disputed Rep. Miller's conclusion that census activities were rushed or that enumerators were pressured to cut corners to complete their follow-up caseloads. In a telephone briefing for reporters on July 25 and a previously scheduled Washington, DC press briefing on July 26, the director said he was "disappointed" the congressional subcommittee did not give the Census Bureau an opportunity to review its analysis before releasing the findings publicly. Dr. Prewitt subsequently told members of the Census Bureau's seven advisory committees at their joint meeting on July 28 that he had completed his review of operations at all 15 offices and found "no need for any further action." He called the report prepared by Rep. Miller's staff "seriously flawed." The director said he was troubled that the "reputations of some of our best local offices have been impugned" by the charges of fraudulent or shoddy work. "This has been a good census," Dr. Prewitt said. "We are not going to let a series of unfounded charges take that away from us." Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the highest-ranking Democrat on the census subcommittee, said in a July 25th written statement that she "take[s] [Rep. Miller's] allegations very seriously" and that the Census Bureau should "investigate and correct" any failure to follow proper counting procedures. However, the congresswoman also questioned Chairman Miller's assertions of fraudulent activities, saying she had reviewed the same Census Bureau operational reports and had found "no evidence of widespread fraud." She also criticized the chairman for presenting his concerns "to the press first and the Census Bureau second." "What we have instead is the equivalent of 'Statistical McCarthyism' - allegations without proof," Rep. Maloney concluded. The congresswoman's district includes one of the census offices Rep. Miller cited as cause for concern. Dr. Prewitt said early last week that there was "no systemic evidence that quality was compromised" in any local offices other than Hialeah, Florida. "The evidence does not support calling this a rushed census," the director said, noting that the census "is done in a fishbowl," under the constant scrutiny of congressional committees, an eight-member Census Monitoring Board, the U.S. General Accounting Office, and the Inspector General. Dr. Prewitt previously ordered a re-enumeration of about 60,000 households in Hialeah, Florida, after finding systemic procedural irregularities. (The Census Bureau reduced the number of cases requiring re-enumeration from 71,000 to 60,000 after eliminating households that mailed back their census forms late.) At the advisory committee meeting later in the week, Dr. Prewitt said he found "no reason to doubt the quality of work" at the offices cited by Rep. Miller. "In each case, the increased pace of field work by dedicated census takers - either at the beginning or at the end of our door-to-door phase - is consistent with the staff resources applied to the situation," the director concluded. Responding to Chairman Miller's specific charges, Dr. Prewitt said the higher-than-expected mail response rate of 66 percent reduced the follow-up workload substantially, so that visits to unresponsive households were finished according to a revised time frame for that level of work. The Census Bureau announced completion of the nonresponse follow-up phase on June 27; the original completion target date of July 7 was based on a 61 percent mail back rate. Some areas posted a high number of completed cases early in the follow-up process because recruitment far exceeded expectations, the director said. He pointed to Commerce, CA, where census managers and community leaders made special efforts to reach the large number of non-English speaking residents, and 900 enumerators were deployed in the first weeks of field operations, instead of the projected 266. In communities where the follow-up work lagged, Dr. Prewitt said, the Bureau brought in more experienced managers and enumerators from other areas, which accounted for the quicker completion of cases later in the NRFU process. Chairman Miller sent a follow-up letter to Dr. Prewitt on July 26, pointing out that hiring peaks did not correspond with periods of rapid completion of household interviews in many of the local offices in question. Dr. Prewitt said the congressman's analysis overlooked the fact that productive enumerators who were reassigned to problem areas stayed on the payroll of the Local Census Office to which they were originally assigned, resulting in incomplete workforce figures for offices that required outside help. The Census Bureau is redoing about 150,000 cases nationwide, including those in the Hialeah area, because of concerns about the quality of the data. Forty-two million households did not return questionnaires by mail, requiring census takers to collect the information in person. Re-enumeration also is planned for selected households in Marion County, IN, Rockville, MD, and two areas of Chicago, as well as isolated cases in other areas. ("Re-enumeration" means the Bureau will set aside the original enumerator-completed questionnaire and send another worker to collect all of the information again.) The Bureau said Hialeah Local Census Office managers ordered enumerators to use both 'blitz enumeration' and 'last resort' procedures early in the process, without informing regional officials of the proposed change. Dr. Prewitt noted that his agency did not find evidence of fraud in Hialeah, but said the Inspector General continued to investigate that possibility. Director Prewitt also said he "took Chairman Miller's concerns seriously" and would provide a report to the oversight subcommittee this week. He acknowledged that some 'curbstoning' (so named because a census taker might 'stand at the curb' and guess the number of residents in a building or house without ever entering) is inevitable in any census but said the practice is not widespread or systemic and that ongoing sample checks of each enumerator's work often exposes individual fraud. In an open letter to members of the Bureau's advisory committees, Rep. Maloney called the allegations of systematic fraud and mismanagement "unsubstantiated." She said Commerce Inspector General Johnnie Frazier and General Accounting Office auditors assured her in separate conversations last week that they had not uncovered any "systemic fraud" in their reviews of census operations. The congresswoman encouraged census employees who believe procedures are not being followed "to step forward and make those allegations in a way that allows the issue to be investigated" by the Census Bureau or its independent overseers. Census 2000 operations continue: Dr. Prewitt and other Census Bureau officials reported last week that 200,000 temporary workers were still conducting coverage improvement activities in the field. There are nine major operations still in progress, they said, as part of the "Quality Counts" phase of the census. The director said he still believes Census 2000 "is a good census" and that quality control procedures "will make it a better census." In early July, enumerators finished follow-up visits in rural and remote areas, including American Indian reservations, where the Bureau employed 'list/enumerate' and 'update/enumerate' procedures to count housing units with irregular or unknown addresses. The Bureau has completed two-thirds of the 2.3 million cases marked for 'coverage edit,' which involves telephone follow-up with households of six or more residents or whose questionnaires contained inconsistent information. In addition, census takers are revisiting 8.7 housing units initially identified as vacant or nonexistent, to confirm there are no occupants. Dr. Prewitt said there was no deadline for completing the visits, but that the first of three 'waves' of these 'coverage improvement' visits was done. The Bureau also is randomly checking three million households nationwide by telephone, to verify the accuracy of the information collected. Other quality-check operations include physical verification of about one million addresses listed on Be Counted forms or on questionnaires completed through a telephone interview; rechecking about 724,000 apparently occupied housing units for which enumerators could not determine the number of residents; confirming jurisdictional boundaries with local government officials; and various internal evaluations of operational progress. The Census Bureau has finished 92 percent of the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) workload; the 314,000 household survey is designed to measure under-and overcounts in the census. "We will remain in the field until we've exhausted every procedure that will help make this a better census," Dr. Prewitt said, addressing concerns that the census was over or had been rushed. Quality check activities will continue through September, after which no new cases will be added to the information already collected. The Census Bureau then conducts internal checks of the address list and other key components of the count as it prepares for release of the state population totals by December 31, as required by law for congressional apportionment, the director said. News Alert update: Norman Mineta was sworn in on July 21 as Secretary of Commerce, one day after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination by voice vote. Secretary Mineta is the first Asian American to serve in a cabinet position. He addressed members of the census advisory committees at their July 28th meeting. Advisory committee name change: The Commerce Department has expanded the charter for its 2000 Census Advisory Committee to include planning for the 2010 decennial census and the American Community Survey, which the Census Bureau hopes will eliminate the need for the traditional long form in 2010 and beyond. The panel was renamed the "Decennial Census Advisory Committee" to reflect its new duties. The department also named the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse as a new member of the committee. 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.

25 years, 7 months

Modeler needed

by Mark Byram

TRAVEL DEMAND MODEL PROJECTION ENGINEER (Transportation Engineer 1 - PCN 63301.0) The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is seeking highly motivated engineer to utilize travel demand modeling procedures to perform trip generation, distribution, mode split, & capacity restrained traffic assignments for construction & design project vs. traffic engineering improvement. Coordinates & tracks various statewide model activities. Reviews, analyzes & prepares certified traffic forecasts for construction & other project improvements, provides liaison, technical guidance and training to District & Central Office personnel, MPOs & other local & Federal agencies. Minimum Qualifications: Valid certificate as Engineer-In-Training issued or accepted as equivalent by Ohio Board of Registration for Professional Engineers & Surveyors; 12 mos. Exp. As Transportation Engineer Intern. Excellent Benefit Package: Health Insurance, Paid Dental & Vision Benefits, 10 Paid Holidays, 4 Personal Days, 2 weeks Sick Leave, 2 weeks Vacation (after 1st year), Tuition Reimbursement Salary Range: $36,650 - $51,085 For consideration, send resume by August 12, 2000 to: Ohio Department of Transportation, Attn: Ms. Williams, Personnel - 1980 W. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43223, Fax: 614-752-6588, EOE: www.dot.state.oh.us

25 years, 7 months

'99 ACS data out

by ed christopher

The 1999 ACS data has just been released. Information about it can can be found on the Census Bureau's ACS web site. http://www.census.gov/CMS/www/index.html

25 years, 7 months

Congressional SubCommittee Hearing on American Community Survey

by Chuck Purvis (MTC)

Dear CTPP News Recipients: The US House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on the Census, held a hearing this past Thursday, July 20th, on the American Community Survey. Written testimony presented at this meeting is included on Congressman Dan Miller's web site, at: http://www.house.gov/danmiller/census/hearing/hearing.html I would encourage census data users to review Congressman Miller's opening remarks, the statemement by the Census Bureau director, Kenneth Prewitt, and statements by: John Spotila (OMB), David Crowe, (National Association of Home Builders), and Chuck Fluharty ((Rural Policy Research Institute), and Kulka and Lessler (Research Triangle Institute.) Obviously this is the written testimony, and I can't "read between the lines" so I'm uncertain what was the tenor of the congressional subcommittee in terms of support or antagonism towards ACS. Dr. Prewitt mentioned that the 1999 ACS data for 21 of the 31 areas would be released the week of July 24, 2000. I've check the Bureau's ACS web site, and haven't seen the '99 data yet. To me, it's kind of like waiting for the Nouveau Beaujolais.... http://www.census.gov/CMS/www/ Chuck Purvis, MTC

25 years, 7 months

Census 2000 Initiative News Alert

by ed christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Justice Department Withholds Judgment On Alaska Anti-Sampling Redistricting Law; Continues to Spar with Virginia Over Similar Measure Plus: Census Funding Bill Clears Senate Committee; Senate Confirms Mineta To Be Commerce Secretary; Update on Census Operations The U.S. Department of Justice has notified Alaska state officials that it cannot determine, until Census 2000 data are available, whether a change to the state Constitution and a related provision of law violate the federal Voting Rights Act. "[U]ntil the Alaska block-level 2000 census data are released," wrote Joseph D. Rich, Acting Chief of the Voting Section, "we cannot properly evaluate the effect of the proposed limitations in HJR 44 and SB 99 on the political participation opportunities of Alaska's minority voters in future legislative redistricting plans." The July 7th letter to Alaska Assistant Attorney General James L. Baldwin is the latest step in the 'preclearance' process required by section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; Alaska is one of 16 states with a history of election-related discrimination covered by section 5. Last summer, state officials asked the Justice Department to sign off on two new measures that, in relevant part, prohibit the use of statistically adjusted numbers to redraw legislative district boundaries following the census. A provision of House Joint Resolution No. 44, enacted in 1998, amends the Alaska Constitution to require the use of official decennial census data by the state's Redistricting Board. A provision of Senate Bill 99 (Chapter 18), enacted in 1999, defines "official" census data as the population numbers used for congressional apportionment, which the Supreme Court ruled cannot be derived through sampling methods under federal law. The two provisions limiting the type of census data that may be used for redistricting cannot take effect without Justice Department approval. The Census Bureau is required by law to transmit detailed population figures to the states by April 1, 2001, for use in the redistricting process. The State of Virginia, also covered by section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, continued to seek quick approval from a federal court for a law enacted last spring that bars the use of statistically corrected population data for congressional and state legislative redistricting. Bypassing the Justice Department's preclearance process, Virginia asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in April to rule that the law complies with the Voting Right Act. The department subsequently asked the three-judge panel to delay consideration of the case until 2000 census data are released. In addition, ten Democratic state legislators and the American Civil Liberties Union, all of who oppose the new law, filed requests to intervene in the lawsuit. Earlier this month, in response to the proposals to delay a judicial decision, Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley asked the district court to rule expeditiously in favor of the new law. The motion for summary judgment notes that the state is one of a handful to hold odd-year elections, leaving little time after block-level census data are released in 2001 to draw new legislative districts. Census Bureau appropriations update: The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a funding bill that includes money for the decennial census and other Census Bureau programs in fiscal year 2001. The Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (not yet numbered) cleared the panel on July 18; the House of Representatives passed its version of the measure (H.R. 4690) on June 26. The full Senate is likely to consider the bill this week before adjourning for the traditional August recess. The Senate bill includes $389.7 million for Census 2000 activities, about $3 million less than the Clinton Administration's request of $392.8 million (but about $300,000 more than the House bill) to close down local census offices and data processing centers, finish the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) program, and tabulate and disseminate data collected in the census. In their report explaining the bill's provisions, the appropriators directed the Census Bureau, in concert with the State Department, to count private American citizens living abroad "in future censuses when appropriate." The bill allocates $21.6 million for continued development of the American Community Survey (ACS), less than the $25 million the Administration requested but more than the House-approved $20 million. (Funding for the ACS falls under the 'continuous measurement' category.) If fully implemented in 2003, the ACS could eliminate the need for a traditional 'long form' in the 2010 census by gathering data on housing, most population characteristics, commuting patterns, and economic status from a rolling annual sample of three million households throughout the decade. (The House Subcommittee on the Census held a hearing on July 20 to review the Census Bureau's plans for the American Community Survey. The Census 2000 Initiative will report on the highlights of this in-depth oversight hearing in a future News Alert.) Overall, Senate appropriators came closer than their House counterparts to meeting the Administration's request of $719.2 million for the Census Bureau in the fiscal year starting October 1, 2000. The Salaries and Expenses ('S&E') account, one of the Bureau's two broad funding categories, received $158.4 million for ongoing surveys of the population and economy, $18.4 million more than the House allocation but $15.4 million short of the requested $173.8 million. The Senate committee provided funds to develop a new measure of electronic business (part of the Commerce Department's 'E-Commerce' Initiative) and to survey minority-owned businesses more frequently. The Periodic Censuses and Programs ('Periodics') account, which covers activities related to the decennial census and other cyclical programs, received $535.2 million, $5.6 million more than the House figure but $10.2 million below the budget request. For all Census Bureau activities, the Senate appropriations committee bill falls $25.6 million short of the Administration's request, while the House-passed version is $51.8 million below the request. Following Senate passage of the Commerce spending measure, each chamber will appoint members to a conference committee that will iron out differences between the two versions of the bill. Mineta nomination moving through Senate: Former California Rep. Norman Mineta became the first Asian American to serve in a cabinet position after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination to be Secretary of Commerce. The Senate approved the nomination by voice vote and without debate on July 20, after the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation endorsed President Clinton's pick to succeed William Daley earlier in the day. Mr. Daley resigned from his post last month to head up Vice President Gore's presidential campaign. The Census Bureau is an agency of the Commerce Department. Secretary Mineta represented the San Jose area in Congress for 20 years before resigning in 1995 to take a senior executive post with Lockheed Martin Corporation. He was active in policy debates during the 1990 census, opposing efforts to exclude undocumented residents from the state population totals used for congressional apportionment and supporting the collection of detailed data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Census 2000 operations update: Census 2000 counting activities continue across the country, as census takers gather information from homes built after the pre-census address listing effort ended last fall and revisit housing units identified as vacant or nonexistent in earlier operations. A separate group of more seasoned enumerators is completing interviews of 314,000 households in the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) survey, to check the quality of the direct counting effort and provide a basis for correcting under- and overcounts using statistical methods. The Census Bureau also decided to recount households in several areas where they believe some census takers cut corners to finish their nonresponse follow-up caseloads, possibly at the urging of local census managers. Enumerators are revisiting about 9,000 households in Chicago and 71,000 households in Hialeah, Florida. Bureau officials said they ordered the recounts after learning that census takers might have sought information from neighbors or other surrogate sources of information before making six attempts (three in person and three by telephone) to contact the residents of a household, as required by census rules. Stakeholder activities: The Census Bureau's advisory committees will meet jointly on Friday, July 28, to review the American Community Survey, planning for the 2010 census, and the status of Census 2000 operations. The committees include the five panels focused on racial and ethnic populations, the professional association representatives, and the Commerce Secretary's 2000 Census Advisory Committee. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA, from 8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.; it 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.

25 years, 7 months

NPTS 2000 Follow-UP

by Ken Cervenka

Hello All. Regarding the NPTS 2000 Survey, in which Congress deleted the funding for this "every five years" household survey, I don't believe this is a "done deal", yet, the funding could still be revived, with some congressional decisions to be made this week. Can anyone confirm this? For those so inclined to send emails of support for a worthy cause, here is a web site with the names and email addresses of all members of the Subcommittee on Transportation: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/commpage.cgi?committee=happrop_tra ns This is a very long URL address, so if you can't just click on it, you can copy it and paste it into your browser. Ken Cervenka North Central Texas Council of Governments -----Original Message----- From: ed christopher [mailto:berwyned@mcs.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 11:50 AM To: ctpp-news maillist this was posted to another listserve but serves as a response to Jerry Everett's NPTS question from yesterday. ************* Congress deleted the line item for the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) for 2000. FHWA is working on their response. I think many of us do not realize how instrumental the NPTS is to a lot of what we do. The NPTS is the only source of travel-characteristic data for the nation, allowing us to track trends since 1969 when the first survey was done. NPTS data was used to develop the household trip generation rates in the update of the old NCHRP 187, published as the NCHRP 365, *Travel Estimation Techniques for Urban Planning*. Many, many areas use it for bench-marking their locally collected data. It offers comparative data for any area to see the similarities and differences to regional and national trends. A number of States and MPOs use the NPTS data as a source of default values when no other data is available, especially for smaller population groups such as elderly drivers. State-wide models are being developed using the NPTS data to fill in rural areas or smaller towns and cities. The web site (http://www-cta.ornl.gov/npts/) was a real step forward to make accessing the data easy, and is a good resource for special studies and topic papers, such as the one on trip chaining. The 2000 survey would have been a valuable tool to address contemporary transportation needs and topics because of the extension of the previous data as well as the addition of new data items directed to emerging issues.

25 years, 7 months

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