[CTPP] Census News Brief are back--enjoy

CENSUS NEWS BRIEF--February 11, 2005 President Sends FY06 Budget to Congress Plus: House Creates New Census Oversight Panel; New Commerce Secretary Confirmed President Bush sent his detailed Fiscal Year 2006 budget proposal to Congress on February 7, setting in motion the process for funding federal programs starting October 1, 2005. The budget seeks $877.4 million for the Census Bureau, roughly an 18 percent increase over this year’s funding level of $744.8 million. Last year, the President requested a 30 percent increase for the Census Bureau, but Congress scaled back the appropriation by $84 million. In a statement on the President’s budget, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the increase requested by the Administration will “support initiatives that will significantly improve the breadth and quality of the information it collects and provides to the country. Among these initiatives is the administrating (sic) of the American Community Survey, modernizing the geographic database information, and developing and testing plans for the Decennial Census based on only a short form.” The Administration requested $466.5 million to continue planning the 2010 census, an increase of $74 million (about 19 percent) over the FY05 appropriation of $392.6 million. The Census Bureau would continue reengineering the census to collect basic demographic data “needed to fulfill constitutional and legal mandates” only, implementing the American Community Survey (ACS) to replace the traditional census long form, and updating its geographic database (Master Address File and TIGER digital mapping system) and aligning map features with Global Positioning System coordinates. In an overview of its budget request, the Commerce Department noted that the 2010 census program will focus on “reducing operational risk, improving accuracy, providing more relevant data, and containing cost.” In FY06, the Census Bureau will conduct a major field test in Travis County, Texas, and on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Preliminary plans for the 2006 field test include testing (1) procedures to improve census coverage (such as large household follow-up, use of administrative records, imputation, and residence rule clarifications); (2) methods for coverage measurement; (3) automated field data collection using hand-held computers; (4) delivery of questionnaires in English and Spanish; (5) mailing replacement questionnaires to unresponsive households; and (6) improved methods to count group quarters (such as college dorms) and people without a usual home. The President’s FY06 budget does not specify the amount of 2010 census funds to be used for the ACS; however, other Census Bureau documents indicate a proposed appropriation of roughly $170 million for the survey. The Administration asked for $165 million to launch the ACS nationwide in 2005, including $10 million for “one-time start-up costs;” it received $146 million (reduced to $144 million after a government-wide recission). The American Community Survey will continue nationwide in FY06, with the first estimates for places of 65,000 or greater population released in the summer of 2006. The Census Bureau expects to add group quarters to the ACS in 2006; Congress declined to fund that component of the survey in 2005. The Administration is seeking $80 million for the MAF/TIGER Enhancements Program, slightly less than the program received this year. The budget calls for correcting geographic locations in an additional 700 counties as part of the multi-year effort to improve TIGER accuracy. Funding for the decennial census is part of the Periodic Censuses and Programs (“Periodics”) account, one of two main funding categories for the Census Bureau. The Periodics account covers activities related to the census, intercensal population estimates, and other cyclical programs such as the quinquennial (that’s every five years, folks!) Economic Census and Census of Governments. The President’s budget seeks $657.4 million for Periodics in FY06, an increase of $109 million over FY05, including $10.4 million for annual demographic estimates (an increase of $1.2 million over FY05). The budget proposes $220 million for Salaries and Expenses (S & E), $24 million more than this year’s appropriation of $196 million, but the same amount requested for Fiscal Year 2005. The S & E account covers ongoing surveys (such as the Survey of Income and Program Participation) to collect important demographic, economic, and social data. New Commerce Secretary takes office: Carlos M. Gutierrez was sworn in this week as the 35th Secretary of Commerce. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the Commerce Department’s Economic and Statistics Administration. Born in Havana, Cuba, Secretary Gutierrez is the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Kellogg Company. New House panel to oversee census: The House Committee on Government Reform has created a new Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census to oversee activities of the Census Bureau in the 109th Congress. The jurisdiction of the newly-organized panel includes “population and demography generally, including the Census, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis,” as well as unfunded mandates, grant management reform, brownfields clean-up and redevelopment, and oversight of housing and urban development. Second-term Representative Michael R. Turner (R-OH-3rd) will chair the subcommittee. Chairman Turner is a former mayor of Dayton and a lawyer by profession. According to the congressman’s biography, his wife, Lori Turner, is a “professional marketer and is the sole proprietor of Dayton-based Turner Marketing.” Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO-1st), from St. Louis, is the ranking minority member on the subcommittee; he held that position on the previous subcommittee with jurisdiction over the census. The next Census News Brief will provide complete information on membership of the House and Senate committees responsible for overseeing activities of and appropriating funds for the Census Bureau. Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent consultant in Washington, DC, with support from The Annie E. Casey Foundation and other organizations. 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 202/484-3067 or by e-mail at TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to other interested individuals and organizations. ----------- Ed Christopher 708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell) FHWA RC-TST-PLN 19900 Governors Dr Olympia Fields, IL 60461