From: Terriann2K(a)aol.com American Community Survey Start Would Be Delayed Further Under President’s Budget Proposal for 2004 The Administration’s Fiscal Year 2004 (FY04) budget proposal requested $64.8 million for the American Community Survey (ACS), an amount that assumes the Census Bureau would not launch the survey nationwide until the fourth quarter. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30; the fourth quarter covers July through September. Under the revised ACS plan, the Census Bureau would begin mailing survey questionnaires in late June 2004 (for the first monthly sample in July). The ACS will sample 250,000 new households every month (3 million a year). For each monthly sample, the Bureau will first try to contact unresponsive homes by telephone, and then send survey takers to visit a portion of households that still have not responded. However, the Bureau does not plan to start household visits until after September 2004, pushing field work into Fiscal Year 2005 and reducing FY04 ACS costs considerably. In-person household interviews are the most costly operation in censuses and surveys. The Census Bureau has not finalized plans for release of the first annual ACS estimates for states and places with a population of 65,000 or greater. Under its original ACS plan, which assumed nationwide launch of the survey this year, the Bureau planned to release estimates based on a calendar year’s worth of data collection. Before expanding the ACS nationwide in July 2004, the Census Bureau plans to continue sampling homes in the 31 test sites and the Supplementary Survey for the first nine months of FY04. Those demonstration projects would then be rolled into the nationwide survey. The Bureau has been evaluating ACS methodology and operations, as well as results, in 31 counties around the country since 1999; initial field testing began in a handful of sites in 1996. In 2000, it launched the Supplementary Survey, a national sample of 700,000 housing units annually, to assess the ACS plan on a national scale and provide a point of comparison with the Census 2000 long form. The national sample survey produces annual estimates for states and places with a population of 250,000 or greater. The Bureau has published data from both the test sites and the Supplementary Survey each year. Other appropriations news: The Census Bureau also is seeking $2.5 million in FY04 to conduct the 2004 Overseas Enumeration Test in France, Kuwait, and Mexico. The test, which will evaluate the feasibility of counting private American citizens living abroad in the 2010 census, was developed in response to congressional directives. In Census 2000, the Bureau counted members of the armed forces and civilian federal employees (and their dependents) stationed overseas on Census Day, using administrative records. The numbers were included only in state population totals used to reapportion the U.S. House of Representatives. The State of Utah sued the Census Bureau after post-census analyses showed that the overseas counts cost Utah an additional seat in Congress; the seat went to North Carolina instead. Utah unsuccessfully argued that Mormon missionaries and other private citizens living outside of the U.S. during the census should have been counted along with government personnel. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case after a federal appeals court sided with the Census Bureau. Even as the FY04 budget process begins, House and Senate negotiators continued to haggle among themselves and with the White House over appropriations for non-defense government agencies for Fiscal Year 2003 (FY03). Last week, Congress passed another temporary funding measure (Continuing Resolution), to keep the government running at last year’s spending levels through February 20. Legislators are scheduled to recess after this week for the Presidents’ Day holiday. Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent consultant in Washington, DC. Please direct questions about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or by e-mail at <terriann2k(a)aol.com>om>. Thank you to the Communications Consortium Media Center for posting the News Briefs on the Census 2000 Initiative web site, at www.census2000.org. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals. ----- Ed Christopher Metropolitan Activities Midwest Resource Center Federal Highway Administration 19900 Governors Drive Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461 708-283-3534 (V) 708-283-3501 (F)