From: Census2000 &lt;Census2000(a)ccmc.org&gt; Key Issues Update: Census 2000 Funding; Ad Campaign Launch; State Activities Census 2000 Funding: The Census Bureau continues to prepare for next year's decennial count while operating under a temporary spending law that covers large parts of the federal government. With a stopgap measure to keep federal agencies running set to expire at midnight today, Congress is rushing to pass another short-term funding bill, called a "continuing resolution," before recessing for Veterans Day. The continuing resolution -- the fifth since the start of fiscal year 2000 on October 1 -- will run through November 17 during which time Congress and the Administration will continue their efforts to resolve differences over five remaining annual spending bills. The latest measure includes adequate funds for Census 2000 activities based on the Census Bureau's estimates of its short term spending needs. Congress and the Administration have yet to agree on a final appropriation, or spending, bill that will cover the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and The Judiciary for fiscal year 2000 (FY00). Last month, Congress passed a bill that included $4.5 billion for Census 2000 as the House of Representatives had recommended, instead of only the $2.8 billion approved by the Senate. For reasons unrelated to the census, the so-called "conference bill" (H.R. 2670) was contentious, barely slipping through the House on a largely party-line vote of 215-213 vote on October 20. The Senate quickly approved the bill by voice vote the same day, sending it to the White House for President Clinton's anticipated veto, which came on October 25. The President's opposition to the Commerce spending bill in its current form has focused on disputes with the Republican congressional leadership over payment of back dues to the United Nations and funding for a community policing program. But the President's veto message included a statement of concern about a provision affecting Census 2000 funds. The conference bill retained language drafted by House appropriators requiring the Census Bureau to obtain approval from Congress before transferring money between decennial census spending accounts. The bill divides the $4.5 billion for Census 2000 among broad categories of census operations, such as advertising and promotion, field data collection, and data processing in the same manner as the House bill that was initially approved in early August. (For a breakdown of the $4.5 billion, see our August 2 News Alert, posted on the Census 2000 Initiative web site at www.census2000.org <http://www.census2000.org>, under News Alert Archive.) Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt objected to the provision, saying in a letter last month to congressional overseers that the reprogramming requirement could "compromise" census operations if Congress delayed approval of requests to transfer funds. In his veto message, President Clinton called the requirement "an unnecessary and potentially time-consuming constraint on the management of the decennial census." Eight of the 13 annual appropriations bills for FY00 have been signed into law. One of the bills vetoed earlier by the President, covering the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services, contained an across-the-board cut of nearly one percent for all non-mandatory federal programs, in an effort to keep funding levels below strict spending caps set in earlier budget negotiations and to avoid the perception of dipping into the Social Security trust fund. The Administration strongly opposes an across-the-board cut which, if enacted, would apply to the census. The Commerce spending bill also includes $20 million for the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), a new program the Bureau is developing to collect more timely demographic and economic information throughout the decade. Full implementation of the ACS could eliminate the need for a traditional long form in the 2010 census and beyond. The Senate had provided $25 million for continued testing of the ACS in 31 sites around the country, the amount requested by the Administration. Other congressional news: The House of Representatives passed a resolution on November 2, expressing its support for census partnerships with state and local governments, civic organizations, and community leaders, to encourage census participation. House Concurrent Resolution 193 "reaffirms the spirit of cooperation that exists between Congress and the Bureau of the Census with respect to achieving a successful census." Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the chairman and senior Democratic member (respectively) of the House census oversight subcommittee, jointly sponsored the "sense of the Congress" resolution. The Senate has not acted on the measure. State legislative activity update: Late last month, the Michigan Senate passed several bills requiring the use of census numbers produced without sampling or statistical methods for post-census congressional and state legislative redistricting. Similar bills are pending before the state House of Representatives, which could consider them this month. Michigan is one of 16 states covered in whole or in part by section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (as amended), which requires approval from the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) for any changes to election law. The 'pre-clearance' process is intended to prevent changes that have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote of racial, ethnic, or language minorities. The USDOJ is continuing its review of a new Alaska law that prohibits the use of census numbers compiled with sampling or statistical methods for state legislative redistricting. (Alaska has only one congressional district.) The USDOJ has until November 22 to approve or reject the Alaska law, or to seek additional information from the state. In a similar section 5 pre-clearance case, the State of Arizona is working to provide USDOJ with additional information supporting its enactment of a similar law last April. California launches Complete Count Committee: The nation's most populous state has launched a Complete Count Committee, backed by an unprecedented level of state funds, in an effort to reduce the undercount of Californians in the census. Governor Gray Davis (D-CA) announced the committee's formation on November 8, pursuant to a state law enacted earlier in the year that also allocated about $25 million for a state-wide campaign to encourage census participation. In his Executive Order establishing the California Complete Count Committee, the Governor noted that "California had the largest population undercount in the nation" in the 1990 census, which missed about 838,000 people, or 2.7 percent of the state's residents. Governor Davis also said in a written press statement that, "California lost at least $2.2 billion in federal funds for education, health and human services programs" and an additional seat in Congress as a result of the undercount. "The Complete Count Committee will play a key role in making sure that California's true population count will be accurately reflected," he said. The Governor named California's Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, Maria Contreras-Sweet, as the committee's chairperson. Committee members include leaders in the religious, education, civil rights, business, labor, and local government arenas, as well as state elected officials. Census Bureau launches advertising campaign: The Census Bureau officially launched its outreach campaign for Census 2000 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on October 27. Secretary of Commerce William Daley, Under Secretary of Commerce Robert Shapiro, and Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt were joined by members of Congress and a wide range of census stakeholders at the public event, at which the Census Bureau unveiled its first-ever paid advertising campaign in support of the decennial census. The broad outreach effort also includes a Census in the Schools program and 30,000 partnerships with business, community-based, and state and local government stakeholders. The national advertising campaign began this month with an educational phase designed to make people aware of Census 2000. The motivational phase will start early next year, before census forms go in the mail in mid-March. In other operational news, the Census Bureau opened the second of three Data Capture Centers in Pomona, California, last month. Completed census questionnaires will be processed at three centers operated under contract for the 2000 census by TRW Inc., as well as at the Bureau's permanent processing facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The two other temporary data capture centers are in Baltimore County, Maryland, and Phoenix, Arizona. Lockheed Martin designed the data processing equipment, which will use advanced imaging and optical character recognition (OCR) technology to "read" the responses on more than 120 million census forms. 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. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.