From: Census2000 &lt;Census2000(a)ccmc.org&gt; Lawmakers Highlight Bipartisan Support for Census 2000 As Bureau Prepares to Launch Promotional Campaign Census Monitoring Board Issues Reports, Endorses Ad Campaign The chairman and ranking minority member of a House panel that oversees the census introduced a resolution that "recognizes the importance of achieving a successful census in 2000 and encourages a public partnership between Congress and the Census Bureau to promote the decennial census," according to a letter sent to all Representatives. Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) also invited Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt to brief legislators this week on ways to promote the census in their districts. The Members-only briefing will be followed by a press conference outside the Capitol featuring the director and interested lawmakers. The Miller/Maloney 'sense of the Congress' resolution (House Concurrent Resolution 193) highlights the importance of census partnerships with state and local governments, civic organizations, and community leaders, to encourage census participation. The bill "reaffirms the spirit of cooperation that exists between Congress and the Bureau of the Census with respect to achieving a successful census." Since their appointment to the newly created Census Subcommittee in 1998, Chairman Miller and Rep. Maloney have been on opposite sides of the controversy over census methods. Rep. Miller opposes the use of sampling while Rep. Maloney supports the Census Bureau's plan to correct undercounts with statistical methods. The press conference announcing the formation of a partnership between Congress and the Census Bureau will take place on Wednesday, October 13, at 12:30 p.m. on the 'House Triangle' (east plaza of the Capitol Building). Census Monitoring Board issues reports: The Census Monitoring Board issued two reports recently, one reflecting the views of all panel members, the other issued separately by the four members appointed by the congressional Republican leadership. (There is one Democratic vacancy on the Board, created when former co-chair Tony Coelho resigned to head the Gore campaign. President Clinton has not yet named a replacement.) In its October 1st report to Congress, the full Board unanimously endorsed the Census Bureau's paid advertising campaign, developed by advertising agency Young & Rubicam. The campaign is "well researched, well designed and is likely to achieve its objectives," the Board said. It noted that the advertising campaign is designed to increase mail response to the census, not to eliminate the disproportionate undercount of minorities and children that has plagued previous censuses. Young & Rubicam subcontracted with four firms to develop ads targeting minority communities. The public awareness phase of the advertising campaign will begin in November. (Print advertisements in the November issues of some monthly magazines will hit newsstands in late October.) The Census Bureau plans to unveil the ads publicly at an October 28th ceremony in Washington, D.C. marking the official launch of Census 2000. The four congressionally-appointed Board members issued a separate report to Congress on September 30 entitled, "Unkept Promise: Statistical Adjustment Fails to Eliminate Local Undercounts, as Revealed by Evaluation of Severely Undercounted Blocks From the 1990 Census Plan." According to the report, "the ability of statistical adjustment to correct the undercount has been wildly overstated." Based on their analysis of the Post Enumeration Survey conducted during the 1990 census, the Republican appointees concluded that "[s] statistical adjustment will not correct large undercounts or overcounts in small areas such as blocks and neighborhoods." In a written statement, Rep. Carolyn Maloney called the report "irrelevant," saying that the coverage evaluation program planned for 2000 is more advanced than the 1990 version and that "for larger areas, which are important for the allocation of program funds and political representation, adjusted census data will be much more accurate." The Census Monitoring Board reports are available electronically at www.cmbp.gov <http://www.cmbp.gov> (Presidential Members) and www.cmbc.gov <http://www.cmbc.gov> (Congressional Members), or by calling the Board's offices at 301/457-9900 (Presidential) or 301/457-5080 (Congressional). The Board, created in late 1997 as part of the Census Bureau's annual funding bill, is required to report to Congress at least once every six months. It is set to expire in September 2001. Census content update: The final version of the Fiscal Year 2000 Transportation Appropriations bill (H.R. 2084), approved by both the House and Senate last week, includes a provision supporting the collection of information on 'marital status' from all American households on the 2000 census short form. President Clinton signed the measure into law this weekend. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) offered the non-binding 'sense of the Senate' language as an amendment when the Senate considered its version of the spending bill in September. The provision states that the Census Bureau "wrongfully decided" not to include a marital status question on the short form sent to all households. In explaining his amendment, Sen. Helms said, "Americans should be disturbed that the U.S. Census Bureau obviously no longer regards marriage as having any importance." The House did not vote separately on the Helms language in adopting the House-Senate conference committee version of the Transportation spending bill. (Each chamber must approve 'conference bills' on an up or down vote before sending a measure to the President for signature or veto; amendments are not permitted.) The census has asked about marital status since 1880. In 2000, the information will be collected from a sample of households (one in six) that receive the long form. The Census Bureau moved the question to the long form after determining that federal agencies do not need the data at the census block level. Census funding update: House and Senate negotiators have not met formally to reconcile differences between their respective versions of the Commerce Department funding bill, which includes the Census Bureau. Federal agencies not covered by spending bills already signed into law continue to operate under a temporary funding measure that runs through October 21. GAO testifies about address development program: The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) gave the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) program mixed reviews in testimony before the House Subcommittee on the Census on September 29. Subcommittee members also heard from Dr. Prewitt and representatives of several state, county, and city governments that participated in the LUCA program. According to the nonpartisan audit agency, local governments participating in the 1998 address list review ('LUCA 1998') offered 7.74 million changes - including 5.4 million additions -- to the Census Bureau's preliminaryaddress lists. Based on a survey of LUCA 1998 participants, the GAO testified that many local governments were satisfied with LUCA materials and technical assistance but that some governments rated these and other program components "less favorably." "LUCA's overall impact on the accuracy and completeness of the address list will not be fully known until after the census," the GAO concluded. For copies of "2000 Census: Local Address Review Program Has Had Mixed Results to Date" (GAO/T-GGD-99-184), call the GAO at 202/512-6000 (TDD: 202/512-2537) or visit its web site at <http://www.gao.gov>. For copies of other testimony, call the Subcommittee on the Census at 202/226-1937 (majority staff) or 202/225-5051 (minority staff). Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at terrian2k(a)aol.com . For copies of previous News Alerts and other information, use our website 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. 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