Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 15:45:05 -0500 From: "Census2000" <census2000(a)ccmc.org> Kincannon Confirmed As New Census Director; Annual Funding Process Starts In Congress; Plus: New House Panel To Oversee Census; New GAO Report; and more. The U.S. Senate last week confirmed Mr. C. Louis Kincannon to be director of the Census Bureau. The unanimous vote on March 13 came two weeks after the Committee on Governmental Affairs held a hearing to consider the nomination. Mr. Kincannon was the agency’s deputy director from 1982 to 1992, and twice served as acting director during that time. He has also held senior positions at the Office of Management and Budget and Commerce Department. Most recently, Mr. Kincannon was the first chief statistician for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, France, a position he held until June 2000. President Bush nominated Mr. Kincannon to head the Census Bureau last November. At the February 28th confirmation hearing, committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Ranking Minority Member Fred Thompson (R-TN) warmly welcomed Mr. Kincannon and indicated their general support for his nomination. Sen. George Allen (R-VA), from Mr. Kincannon’s home state, and Rep. Tom Sawyer (D-OH), former chairman of the House Subcommittee on Census and Population, introduced the nominee to the panel. The nominee told panel members he hoped to build on the success of Census 2000 through implementation of the American Community Survey (ACS), improvements in geographic tools, and cooperation with stakeholders. Mr. Kincannon also highlighted the importance of recruiting and retaining qualified staff. In response to a question from Chairman Lieberman about using statistical methods to address the census undercount, Mr. Kincannon said adjustment techniques are “feasible and sound” for larger areas (such as states and, possibly, large counties and cities), but not for the level of detail used in redistricting. Whether statistically adjusted numbers are sufficiently accurate, he said, depends on the purpose for which they would be used. Senator Thompson, noting that he had received constituent complaints, asked how the Census Bureau would justify the American Community Survey. Mr. Kincannon replied that the agency must highlight the benefit of more timely data to local governments, and keep Congress and the media informed about the survey’s progress. Earlier this month, William G. Barron, the bureau’s acting director since January 2001, said he would retire this summer after a 34-year civil service career. He has accepted a one-year appointment to teach at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Mr. Barron became deputy director of the Census Bureau in May 1999, after helping to oversee planning for Census 2000 as deputy under secretary of commerce for economic affairs. Mr. Barron also was deputy commissioner of the Bureau for Labor Statistics for 15 years. FY03 Appropriations Process Begins: House and Senate appropriators have begun the annual process of considering federal agency funding for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1. In his budget request for fiscal year 2003 (FY03), President Bush requested $737 million for the Census Bureau, an increase of $223 million over current year funding. The request includes $291 million to “reengineer” the census process for 2010. Roughly $124 million of that amount is for nationwide implementation of the American Community Survey in 2003. In its first full year, the survey would not cover “group quarters,” such as college dormitories, military barracks, prisons, and nursing homes. In addition, FY03 includes only nine months of follow-up visits to unresponsive households (January – September 2003), making it likely that the future full-year cost for the ACS would be higher. The Census Bureau hopes to eliminate the traditional ‘long form’ from the 2010 census and replace it with updated annual data from the ACS. Current year funding for the ACS is $56 million, which covers 31 test sites and continuation of the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey (C2SS), a national sample of 750,000 housing units. Cost estimates submitted to Congress last year pegged first-year (FY03) funding at $131 million. In testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary, and Related Agencies on February 27, and again before the counterpart Senate Appropriations subcommittee on March 13, Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans said the proposed budget increase primarily would support reengineering and reducing costs of the decennial census, and improving timeliness and coverage of economic statistics (as well as peak-year activities for the 2002 Economic Censuses). “It is very difficult to make wise policy decisions that affect millions of lives if you don’t have timely, accurate information,” Secretary Evans told lawmakers. The census reform initiative also includes modernizing the Master Address File and digital geographic database (called the “TIGER system”), and early planning, development, and testing of a ‘short form-only’ 2010 census. Funding for the decennial census and the ACS is part of the Periodic Censuses and Programs ("Periodics") account, one of two primary funding categories for the Census Bureau. The Periodics account covers activities that support census operations, such as mapping and address list development, as well as other mandated censuses of business establishments and local governments. The total FY03 request for the Periodics account is $522.4 million. The second main funding category, Salaries and Expenses (S & E), covers ongoing surveys (such as the Current Population Survey) to collect important demographic, economic, and social data. The President proposed $215.2 million for the S & E account. New House Census Oversight panel: Oversight responsibility for the census and other Census Bureau programs has shifted to a new House of Representatives panel, after the former Subcommittee on the Census closed its doors last December. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) chairs the newly renamed Subcommittee on Civil Service, Census, and Agency Organization, of the Committee on Government Reform; Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) is the panel’s ranking Democratic member. Former census subcommittee chairman, Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL), was named vice chairman. New General Accounting Office report: The U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigative and audit arm of Congress, issued a new report last month on the strengths and weaknesses of Census 2000 field follow-up activities, the single most costly census operation. Members of the Census Bureau’s House and Senate oversight committees requested the evaluation, entitled “2000 Census: Best Practices and Lessons Learned for More Cost-Effective Nonresponse Follow-up” (Report No. GAO-02-196). GAO reports are available through the agency’s web site at www.gao.gov or by calling 202-512-6000 (TDD/202-512-2537). Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to Terri Ann 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. 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. -- Ed Christopher Metropolitan Specialist Midwest Resource Center Federal Highway Administration 19900 Governors Drive Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461 708-283-3534 (V) 708-283-3501 (F)