From: Census2000 &lt;Census2000(a)ccmc.org&gt; Congress, Administration Reportedly Close to Agreement To Avert Government Shutdown Over Census Sampling Dispute Congress and the Administration reportedly are close to an agreement that will keep funds flowing to the Census Bureau and several other government departments after June 15. The spending agreement also would allocate an additional $45 million for census preparations in the current fiscal year, provided the Administration sends a detailed budget for census costs in 2000 to lawmakers by June 1. The extra funds, as well as the authority for the Bureau to continue spending money past June 15, would likely be included in an emergency appropriations bill that Congress is considering this week. However, lawmakers and the White House are still grappling over several key provisions of the underlying bill, making passage of the spending measure uncertain. The Bureau's fiscal year 1999 (FY99) funding bill allocated $1.027 billion for Census 2000 activities but only gave the Bureau authority to spend money through June 15, 1999. The restriction applied to the entire budget account covering the Departments of Commerce, State, and Justice, the federal judiciary, and several independent agencies. (The Census Bureau is an agency of the Commerce Department.) Congressional critics of the Bureau's Census 2000 plan and the Administration agreed to revisit the use of sampling methods to supplement a direct count this spring. If the new agreement holds, it would lift the June 15 cut-off date, allowing the Bureau and other federal departments to continue spending funds through September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The Bureau's request for an extra $44.9 million in FY99 covers expanded field operations, technology infrastructure, and marketing. The request includes $20.8 million to open, staff, and equip local census offices (LCOs), including an additional 44 LCOs, sooner. $15 million would be used for more advertising and promotion activities. $9.1 million would pay for expanded data processing and telephone capacity. The Bureau revised its Census 2000 plan in February after the Supreme Court ruled that the law bars the use of sampling to count the population for purposes of congressional apportionment. To meet that requirement, the Bureau must visit all households that do not mail back a census form, instead of estimating characteristics for a portion of the unresponsive homes. The door-to-door visits (called 'nonresponse follow-up') are the most costly operational phase of the census. The Bureau still plans a large quality-check survey after the direct count, to identify and correct misses and double-counts in the first tally. The agency has not yet submitted a full cost estimate to Congress for implementing the modified census plan next year. The fiscal year 1999 supplemental spending bill was originally drafted to aid victims of Hurricane Mitch. However, the measure stalled when congressional leaders and the President could not agree on how to pay for the emergency spending. The bill was revived as a vehicle for emergency funding to pay for military operations in Yugoslavia and other congressional priorities, many related to defense. Other legislative news: Rep. Mark Green (R-WI) has introduced a bill to change the way prisoners are counted in the census. H.R. 1632 would require the Census Bureau to count prisoners incarcerated in another state as residents of the state that pays more than half of the cost of incarceration. Under the Bureau's residency rules, people are counted at the place they reside regularly as of Census Day. Prisoners are counted at their place of incarceration; college students are counted where they attend school (provided they live away from home). H.R. 1632was referred to the Committee on Government Reform. State legislative activities: A bill that amends the State Constitution to prohibit the use of statistically-corrected census numbers for redistricting purposes took effect in Alaska after Democratic Governor Tony Knowles returned the measure without his signature to the state legislature. Because Alaska only has one representative in Congress, the new law will affect the redrawing of state Senate and House of Representatives district lines. The measure covered several issues relating to the redistricting process in Alaska. In a letter to State Senate President Drue Pearce, the Governor wrote: "To prohibit the redistricting board to use census numbers that may involve sampling is to deny a valuable tool which has been demonstrated to correct undercounting of citizens during the census process. Although it is not known to what extent Alaskans may be undercounted or what effect this may have, this provision elevates partisan politics over the goal of accuracy in census numbers." Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of the state legislature. The redistricting process in Alaska is subject to pre-clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (as amended). The Kansas state legislature passed and sent to the Governor a bill (SB351) requiring the use of census numbers produced by an "actual enumeration" to draw congressional and state legislative district boundaries. Census Monitoring Board news: Republican party activists have called upon Census Monitoring Board co-chair Tony Coelho to resign after Mr. Coelho was named chairman of Vice President Albert Gore's presidential campaign. Mr. Coelho, a former Member of Congress from California, was one of four people appointed by President Clinton in the spring of 1998 to the new, eight-member oversight board. Congressional Republican leaders appointed the other four members. Mr. Coelho has not announced whether he will continue to serve on the Board. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn 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. 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