from: Census 2000 Initiative date: October 13, 1998 Congress and White House Still Struggling to Reach Accord On Census Funding as Clock Ticks Toward Adjournment With most government agencies operating under a stopgap spending bill that runs out at midnight tomorrow, Congress and the Administration are still trying to reach agreement on funding for 2000 census preparations in the current fiscal year that began October 1. Reports earlier today that an agreement had been reached could not be confirmed. Critics of the Census Bureau's plan to supplement the traditional headcount with sampling methods reportedly want to provide funding for 2000 census activities only through February, forcing Congress and the Administration to make a final decision by then on whether sampling can be used. The truncated funding would apply to the departments of Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary, the budget account which includes the Census Bureau. Congressional supporters of the Bureau's plan continue to call for a full year of funding. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in two lawsuits challenging the use of sampling on November 30; a decision could be rendered by early next year. [See below for update on the lawsuits.] The entire Commerce appropriations bill is likely to be included in a larger spending package covering numerous agencies and programs for which separate funding measures have not been signed into law. Census director nomination awaits final action: Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, President Clinton's choice to head the Census Bureau, awaits confirmation by the Senate after the Committee on Governmental Affairs approved his nomination by voice vote on September 24. Committee aides say the full Senate could vote on the Prewitt appointment in the coming days before Congress adjourns but that the decision is in the hands of the Senate leadership. Lawsuit update: Several organizations concerned about the outcome of the 2000 census filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case of U.S. House of Representatives v. U.S. Department of Commerce. On November 30, the Supreme Court will hear the government's appeal of the district court ruling that the Census Act bars the use of sampling for purposes of congressional apportionment. The Supreme Court announced that it will hear the government's appeal in the second census lawsuit, Glavin v. Clinton, at the same time. Like the court in the U.S. House of Representatives case, a federal district court in Virginia ruled last month that sampling was unlawful but did not consider whether the Constitution also barred those methods. By combining the two cases, the Court may have a greater opportunity to decide whether the Census Act and the Constitution permit sampling for apportionment because the parties bringing the lawsuits have different stakes in the outcome. For example, if the Court finds that Congress does not have legal standing to challenge the Census Bureau's plan, it could still consider the substantive issues if the individual and local government plaintiffs in the Glavin case meet the constitutional standards for challenging the sampling methods. Among the parties filing "amicus briefs" in support of the Commerce Department's appeal were the State of Texas, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Japanese American Citizens League, ACLU, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and the Brennan Center for Justice/New York University School of Law. Briefs in support of the plaintiff's challenge to sampling are due by November 3. The Supreme Court convenes to hear cases at 10:00 a.m. Individuals interested in observing oral arguments in the census case should call the Court's Public Information Office at 202/479-3000. A limited number of reserved seats are available; the line for same-day public seats forms daily on the front steps of the Court building. Congressional subcommittee plans field hearings: The House Subcommittee on the Census announced plans for a series of field hearings to review local efforts to promote census participation. In a letter to stakeholder organizations, Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL) said his panel will visit areas that had the largest undercounts in 1990 to review "at the local level innovative ways to find and count all Americans" in 2000. He asked stakeholders to share their ideas and suggest possible witnesses for the hearings, and called upon stakeholders "to get serious about planing for an actual count" in light of congressional opposition to sampling and recent court rulings that the Census Act prohibits those methods. The subcommittee has not announced sites for the hearings. Executive Branch news: The Census Bureau's professional, race and ethnic, and 2000 census advisory committees will meet jointly on October 26 to discuss the paid advertising campaign for the 2000 census. Representatives of Young & Rubicam, the ad agency developing the campaign under contract with the Bureau, will participate in the discussions. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Reston Hotel, 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA (tel: 703/620-9000), from 8:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m., and is open to the public. Stakeholder activities: The 2000 Census Advisory Committee is drafting a final report that it will present to the Secretary of Commerce in February, one month before the committee's charter expires. The report will summarize the panel's work over the past two years and make recommendations on a wide range of operational and technical issues affecting the 2000 census. Census Bureau staff presented information on the status of dress rehearsal operations but cautioned that analysis of the results was not complete. Census workers had finished non-response follow-up visits in all three dry-run sites, as well as, return visits for the quality-check sample survey in Sacramento and the Menominee Indian reservation. The Bureau plans to issue a "report card" on the dress rehearsal by the end of January; evaluations will be finished in March 1999. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Robert Mallett reported that Commerce Department officials were visiting all of the Bureau's regional offices to assess fiscal and personnel resource needs for the temporary regional census centers and more than 500 local census offices that will open in 1999. The advisory committee's next meeting is December 3 - 4. 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>om>. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to Census 2000 at <census2000(a)ccmc.org> or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals