From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> House Committee Considers Legislation Affecting Census Operations The House Subcommittee on the Census has approved several bills "designed to provide the additional tools needed to improve the 2000 census," according to Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL), who opposes the Census Bureau's plan to use scientific sampling methods as a quality check of the initial population tally. The full Committee on Government Reform will vote on the bills at a "mark-up" on March 17. The committee cancelled plans for a hearing that day featuring Commerce Secretary William Daley and Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt. Following is a brief description of the legislation considered by the census subcommittee: 1. "Local Census Quality Check Act" (H.R. 472) H.R. 472 requires the Census Bureau to implement a post census local review (PCLR) similar to the 1990 program. The Bureau must give local governments 45 working days to review housing unit counts and jurisdictional boundaries before the census figures become final. (The 1990 program did not include a review of preliminary population counts.) By November 1, 2000, the Bureau must investigate all challenges to the preliminary counts and notify local governments of the results. The bill was introduced on February 2 by Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL), chairman of the Subcommittee on the Census. The subcommittee held a hearing to review H.R. 472 on February 11. Several local officials and organizations, including the National Association of Towns and Townships and the National Association of Development Organizations, supported reinstatement of a post census local review in 2000; however, they did not all endorse the specific requirements of H.R. 472. Richmond Mayor Timothy Kaine, testifying on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), said that while he would not decline an opportunity to review preliminary data, PCLR did not address the mayors' concerns about the population undercount. He reiterated USCM's support for a quality-check survey to correct undercounts identified in the initial tally. Following the hearing, the panel approved H.R. 472 by a 5 - 0 vote. The Democratic members did not participate in the 'mark-up.' Invited to testify at a subsequent hearing on March 2, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt told the subcommittee that the bill "would mandate a program that Census professionals believe will not effectively and efficiently contribute to the overall accuracy of the census." 2. "Decennial Census Improvement Act of 1999" (H.R. 683): Sponsored by Rep. Carrie Meek (D-FL), H.R. 683 waives consideration of income earned as a temporary census employee in determining eligibility for federal benefits (or state and local benefits financed in part with federal funds) or in determining the amount of a federal or military pension. The bill's supporters hope it will result in the hiring of more enumerators who live in the neighborhoods they will canvass. For the 1990 census, Congress enacted similar legislation affecting federal and military retirees, and some agencies administratively agreed to disregard census income earned by recipients of federal benefits. The census subcommittee reviewed H.R. 683 at a March 2 hearing and approved the measure with bipartisan support on March 4. 3. "2000 Census Mail Outreach Improvement Act" (H.R. 928): H.R. 928 requires the Census Bureau to send a replacement questionnaire either to all households, or to households that don't respond to the first mailing. After determining that 40 percent of the second forms mailed back in last year's dress rehearsal were duplicates, the Census Bureau decided not to include a replacement questionnaire in its revised Census 2000 plan. Dr. Prewitt said such a requirement would "significantly delay data processing operations and potentially introduce significant errors into the data" by delaying the start of follow-up visits to unresponsive households by six weeks. Rep. Miller introduced H.R. 928 on March 2 but did not hold a hearing on it. The subcommittee approved the bill on March 11. 4. "2000 Census Language Barrier Removal Act" (H.R. 929): H.R. 929 requires the Census Bureau to print and make available questionnaires in 33 languages (other than English) specified in the bill and in Braille. The Bureau's Census 2000 plan includes questionnaires in English, Spanish, Chinese,Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog, and language guides in the 27 other languages mentioned in the legislation. Employees at questionnaire assistance centers in the hardest-to-count communities would help non-English speaking people fill out the forms. Also introduced by Rep. Miller on March 2, H.R. 929 was approved by the census panel on March 11 without a hearing. Dr. Prewitt told the subcommittee before the bill was introduced that this new requirement would force the Bureau to renegotiate many of its major contracts, modify data processing equipment, and revise written materials with the benefit of testing. These changes, he said, could "put the census at risk." 5. "2000 Census Community Participation Enhancement Act" (H.R. 1009): H.R. 1009 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to develop a matching grant program for 2000 census education, outreach and promotion, and partnership activities. All local and tribal governments (including the U.S. territories) and nonprofit public and private organizations would be eligible to apply for a grant, provided the applicant makes available 50 percent of the grant amount in nonfederal funds. The Census Bureau's 12 regional offices would be responsible for administering the grant program. The bill authorizes $26 million in fiscal year 2000 for this program. H.R. 1009, sponsored by Rep. Miller, was introduced on March 4. The census subcommittee approved the bill on March 11 after rejecting an amendment offered by the panel's senior Democrat, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), to shift responsibility for administering the grant program to a private foundation and to increase the amount of money available for the grants. Rep. Maloney noted that the $26 million funding ceiling would give each of the nation's 39,000 local governments an average grant under $700, even before taking into account applications from community-based organizations. At a March 2 hearing, Dr. Prewitt said the Bureau has no grant-making experience, but he encouraged private foundations to make grants to local communities for outreach and promotion activities. 6. H.R. 1010 (no short title) authorizes $300 million in fiscal year 2000 for census promotional, outreach and marketing activities. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Miller, had originally suggested quadrupling the advertising budget to $400 million. The Census Bureau's original plan included $100 million for a paid advertising campaign and another $140 million for other marketing efforts. When he unveiled the revised census plan last month to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision on the use of sampling, Dr. Prewitt said the Bureau would expand the entire marketing and promotion effort. The census subcommittee approved H.R. 1010 on March 11. 7. "Census in the Schools Promotion Act" (H.R. 1058): H.R. 1058 would expand the Census in the Schools program by requiring the Bureau to send a full program packet to every school. Scholastic Inc. developed the program, which the Census Bureau unveiled last week. The Bureau had planned to target schools in the hardest-to-count communities and make the materials available to all educators through the World Wide Web. Dr. Prewitt told the census subcommittee at a March 2 hearing that the Bureau had expanded the program's original scope to include every school in the country, including those on American Indian reservations. Rep. Miller introduced H.R. 1058 on March 10. The subcommittee has not voted on the measure. The Government Reform Committee will consider all of these bills at a business meeting on March 17, at 10 a.m. in room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. 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