Census Bureau Recharters, Shrinks Decennial Census Advisory Committee; May meeting Postponed; Plus: Race/Ethnic, Professional Advisory Committees To Meet; New House Oversight Panel Schedules First Census Hearing; and more. The Census Bureau will reconstitute the Decennial Census Advisory Committee (DCAC) with fewer members, according to a notice in the Federal Register on March 21. The DCAC, whose charter expired, had 38 member organizations, as well as ex-officio members from Congress and the U.S. Postal Service. The Secretary of Commerce will appoint 20 member organizations to the new 2010 Census Advisory Committee (2010 CAC) and will designate its chair and vice chair. The committee will report to the Census Bureau director. The deadline for submitting nominations for membership was April 8. Members of the old DCAC were required to reapply for membership on the new committee. According to the Federal Register notice, the new advisory committee will advise the Census Bureau on how best to achieve “its decennial goals and objectives” and will “address policy, research, and technical issues related to the design and implementation” of the census. 2010 CAC members may not “duplicate other organizations, interests, or communities already represented” on other Census Bureau advisory committees or census consultation groups, such as Census Information Centers or State Data Centers. The Census Bureau said it is seeking members that are “knowledgeable about issues related to the statutory and/or constitutional uses of the census data, general governmental entities, data users, and research and technology-based organizations.” Several members of the now-defunct DCAC, including the NAACP and National Urban League, are Census Information Centers (CICs), a cooperative program between the Census Bureau and non-profit organizations established to represent “the interests of underserved communities.” Centers serve as “repositories of census data and reports, making census information and data available to the public and the communities they serve.” The Census Bureau also has five race and ethnic advisory committees, representing the interests of the African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander communities. Individuals, not organizations, are appointed to these committees. In addition, the Census Advisory Committee of Professional Associations (CACPA) is comprised of representatives of the American Economic Association, American Marketing Association, American Statistical Association, and Population Association of America. The latter two associations were members of the DCAC. 2010 CAC member organizations will serve three year terms, after initial appointments of two or three years to stagger terms over the life of the committee. The next meeting of the decennial advisory committee, originally scheduled for May, has been postponed until sometime in the fall. Other census advisory committees to meet this month: The Census Bureau’s five race and ethnic advisory committees (REAC) will meet on April 25-27 to review the status of planning for Census 2010 and the newly-launched American Community Survey (ACS). Topics of discussion include updates from congressional staff, status of 2010 census tests, accessing ACS data on the Census Bureau’s web site, and Census Bureau research related to data quality, enumerating small populations, and reaching people whose primary language is not English. The Census Advisory Committees on the African American Population, American Indian and Alaska Native Population, Asian Population, Hispanic Population, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population will meet jointly on April 25 from 9:00 AM – 5:15 PM; on April 26 from 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM (including concurrent sessions from 1:00 – 4:30 PM); and on April 27 from 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM. The Census Advisory Committee of Professional Associations (CACPA) will meet April 21 from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, and April 22 from 8:30 AM – 12:15 PM. Agenda items related to Census 2010 and the ACS include plans for computer-assisted interviewing, proposed residence rules, group quarters definitions, and content tests (including race/ethnicity questions). All of the advisory committees will meet at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, VA (tel. 703-486-1111). The meetings are open to the public. New Census Subcommittee to review plans for 2010: The House Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, April 19, to review the status of planning for Census 2010 halfway through the decade. Witnesses include Under Secretary (of Commerce) for Economic Affairs Kathleen Cooper; Census Bureau Director C. Louis Kincannon; Joan Naymark, Target Corporation, testifying for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Andrew Reamer, Urban Markets Initiative, The Brookings Institution; and Jacqueline Byers, National Association of Counties. The hearing will start at 10:00 AM in Room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. Census legislation reintroduced in the House: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a member of the House census oversight subcommittee, has reintroduced two bills related to the census. Both bills were referred to the Committee on Government Reform. H.R. 337 would set a five-year term for the Census Bureau director. Currently, the director, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, has no fixed term of service. Historically, directors have stepped down if a president from the opposing political party is elected. Some critics have charged that this arrangement leaves the position vulnerable to political influence. The heads of several other federal statistical agencies, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, serve a fixed term of office, while career civil servants are in the top position at other agencies. H.R. 564, introduced with four cosponsors, would amend title 13, United States Code, to allow the use of statistical sampling in determining the population counts used for congressional reapportionment. Conflicting interpretations of section 195, which Rep. Maloney’s bill would clarify, were central to a lawsuit filed by House Republicans before the 2000 census, challenging the Census Bureau’s plan to use sampling methods as part of follow-up operations and to adjust the initial census numbers to correct for under- and overcounts. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January 1999 that section 195 of title 13 barred the use of sampling for apportionment purposes, forcing the Census Bureau to revise its census plan. 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. Information provided in Census News Briefs may be quoted without attribution. --------------- Ed Christopher 708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell) FHWA RC-TST-PLN 19900 Governors Dr Olympia Fields, IL 60461