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September 11, 2009 No. 73
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Editor's note: Welcome
back from August break, census stakeholders. As Fall begins, the
pace of final census preparations and congressional oversight will
accelerate, and we will report on the most important operational and
policy developments as often as possible, as the start of the 2010
census nears. This Census
News Brief summarizes recent issues and activities; it's a little
longer than usual, so thanks for your continued interest and patience!
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2010 CENSUS ROUND-UP
- Plans for data on same-sex marriages
- Civil rights group calls for special census in Gulf Coast
- Conservatives hint at census lawsuit
- Language outreach still a concern
- Appropriations update, and more.
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CENSUS BUREAU CLARIFIES PLANS FOR DATA
ON SAME-SEX SPOUSES
The
Census Bureau is preparing to release raw data from the 2010 census
"relationship question" that will show the number of same-sex
marriages, after the Commerce Department's General Counsel concluded
that federal law does not bar the agency from publishing statistics on
people who report a spouse of the same gender.
The agency issued
a more detailed outline of its plan to publish same-sex spouse
responses after several news outlets reported earlier this year that
the Census Bureau was changing a policy developed during the Bush
(George W.) Administration. The plan's summary, "A Census That
Reflects America's Population," says that the bureau "is now focusing
its efforts on the statistical issues of accurately measuring this
population in future surveys," including the ongoing Current Population
Survey (CPS), American Community Survey (ACS), and Survey of Income and
Program Participation (SIPP).
While conceding that it is too
late to change a previous operational decision to re-code same-sex
spouse responses as "unmarried partners" for 2010 -- a step that the
summary describes as "embedded" in the coding process -- the Census
Bureau will release unedited 2010 census relationship data in 2011, at
the same time that it releases detailed tabulations of demographic and
housing information from the decennial, in which same-sex spouse
responses will have been recoded as "unmarried partner." (The first
detailed data release is called Summary File 1, which is published after the basic detailed population data needed for congressional redistricting under Public Law 94-171.) In 2012, traditional special reports from
the census will include an analysis of responses by same-sex
couples. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke also has asked the Office
of Management and Budget, which oversees federal statistical policy, to
create an inter-agency task force on the collection and tabulation of
relationship data.
The July 30, 2009 legal analysis by Commerce
General Counsel Cameron Kerry reverses an opinion reached during the
Bush Administration that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (1 U.S.C.
§7) prohibited the Census Bureau from publishing responses from
same-sex couples who describe themselves as spouses on their census
forms. Based on the previous interpretation, as well as its own
research on the quality of relationship data, the bureau planned to
recode -- as "unmarried partners" -- responses from people of the same
gender who identified themselves as husband or wife. Mr. Kerry's
analysis concluded that DOMA's definitions of "marriage" and "spouse"
apply when the words appear in acts of Congress, rulings, regulations,
and other federal administrative documents, a description he said does
not apply to the census questionnaire, noting that the words do not
appear in the Census Act or any related rulings. The General
Counsel highlighted the Census Bureau's "role as the nation's objective
demographer" and said the decennial census "routinely collects and
reports information that reflects changes in social mores."
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CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP ISSUES REPORT ON
CENSUS CHALLENGES IN GULF COAST
As
the Gulf Coast region marked the fourth anniversary of Hurricane
Katrina in late August, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Education Fund (LCCREF) issued a report evaluating the consequences for
2010 census operations of demographic and economic conditions in
communities still recovering from the 2005 storms (Hurricane Rita hit
many of the same areas that fall). The "nation's oldest and
largest civil rights coalition" called for a special census early in
the next decade to measure continued re-settlement in the hardest-hit
areas.
At an August 24 New Orleans press conference,
Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
called Hurricane Katrina "a natural disaster and man-made catastrophe"
and said an inaccurate census in Katrina-affected areas "would be one
more devastating blow depriving residents and their communities of the
assistance they need to fully recover." Trap Bonner, executive
director of Moving Forward Gulf Coast, said that achieving an accurate
census "will require an enormous effort on the part of everyone from
the president, the Congress and the Census Bureau to community-based
organizations like ours that have developed a special trust with people
in hard-to-count groups."
Counting in the Wake of a Catastrophe: Challenges and Recommendations for the 2010 Census in the Gulf Coast Region (August
2009) summarizes recent demographic trends in Katrina-affected areas
that relate to census-taking, such as the devastation and rebuilding of
homes, changing racial and ethnic composition, and reduced telephone
service. The report discusses how these conditions present
additional barriers to achieving an accurate census; for example,
lower-than-average unemployment could make it more difficult for the
Census Bureau to recruit enough census workers next year, while high
vacancy rates and temporary living situations "will increase the
difficulty and scope of Update/Leave, Nonresponse Follow Up, and
subsequent field operations."
The report offers several
operational and policy recommendations, including a congressional field
hearing in the Gulf Coast region to "examine the barriers to achieving
an accurate and fair census" in the aftermath of the 2005 storms; a
federally-funded special census in 2012 or 2013 in designated Gulf
Coast communities; and appointment of a senior level Gulf Coast
Coordinator to oversee final preparations and census operations in the
region. Nearly
50
community groups working to address the lingering consequences of
Hurricane Katrina wrote to Rep. William "Lacy" Clay (D-MO), chairman
of the House census oversight subcommittee, in July, seeking a hearing
on the Census Bureau's "ability to achieve an accurate count of
Gulf Coast residents in the 2010 census." The advocates, led by
nonprofit Moving Forward Gulf Coast and representing communities
in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, expressed particular concern
about the count of low-income and Black, Latino, and Asian American
populations. Federal law (Title 13, U.S.C., §196)
allows the Census Bureau to conduct special censuses in between
decennial counts, at the expense of the requesting local
government. A federally-funded, region-wide special census would
require additional authorization and appropriations from Congress.
To download the report (or to view the report by section), go to http://www.civilrights.org/publications/gulf-coast-census/. The full press release is available at http://www.civilrights.org/press/2009/civil-rights-coalition-1.html.
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CONSERVATIVES HINT AT CENSUS LAWSUIT
The
chairman of the House Republican Census Task Force suggested in a
fundraising letter that a conservative legal advocacy group would take
the Obama Administration to court, if necessary, to prevent the Census
Bureau from using "statistical sampling" in the 2010 census, which the
letter says will "invite rampant corruption as government bureaucrats
fudge the numbers to serve Obama's liberal agenda."
Calling the
census "the alpha and omega of political power in America," Rep. Lynn
Westmoreland's (R-GA) appeal asks recipients to sign a "Census Defense
Form" to "prevent President Barack Obama from hijacking and rigging the
2010 Census in favor of liberals," and requests a donation to help the
Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) "defend the 2010 Census with me."
SLF filed a lawsuit against President Clinton in 1998 (Glavin v. Clinton, No.
98-564), challenging the Census Bureau's plan to use sampling
techniques to complete the Nonresponse Follow-Up operation and to
adjust the final census numbers based on measures of undercount and
overcount from a post-census survey.
House Republicans, led by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), filed a concurrent legal challenge to the 2000 census plan (Department of Commerce v. U.S. House of Representatives, 525 U.S. 316, 1999), which the Court considered together with the Glavin case. The U.S. Supreme Court found in the House of Representatives lawsuit
that the Census Act (13 U.S.C., §195) prohibits the use of "sampling"
to compile the state population totals used for congressional
apportionment. The Court did not rule on the constitutionality of
sampling methods.
In
light of the case, the Census Bureau dropped
plans to sample the final ten percent of unresponsive homes during
Nonresponse Follow-up; it did conduct an Accuracy and Coverage
Evaluation (A.C.E.) survey to measure undercounts and overcounts (or
"coverage") in the census and determine if A.C.E.-based adjustments to
the original census numbers would improve accuracy for
non-apportionment purposes such as legislative redistricting and the
allocation of federal program funds. The bureau decided, after
two
years of analysis, not to adjust the population figures for any use,
citing concerns about the reliability of the A.C.E. findings.
SLF
is
a "national constitutional public interest law firm and policy
center that advocates limited government, individual economic freedom,
and the free enterprise system," according to the organization's web
site (http://www.southeasternlegal.org/). Sharon Goessling, SLF's
executive director, wrote in a February 18, 2009 op-ed in The Washington Times that
statistical sampling "gives statisticians appointed by politicians the
power to determine final congressional apportionment numbers. Imagine
30 million 'virtual' people; where they live and how many there are
would be at the mercy of political statisticians." (The Census Bureau's
permanent staff of roughly 13,000 at headquarters and in the 12 regional offices includes only a handful of political
appointees, including the director, Associate Director for Communications,
and Chief of Congressional Affairs.)
Current
Census
Director Robert Groves held a career Associate Director
position at the agency during the 1990 census; he was hired by
then-Director Barbara Everitt Bryant, who was appointed by President
George H.W. Bush. Rep. Westmoreland's fundraising letter
highlights Dr. Groves' support in that position for "manipulating the
Census by using 'statistical sampling'," a reference to the
recommendation by a nine-member panel of career experts at the
Census Bureau to adjust the 1990 census numbers based on the
results of a quality-check survey. Dr. Bryant concurred with the
panel's recommendation, but Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher
rejected an adjustment of the census. Rep. Gingrich was among
lawmakers from both political parties who supported a statistical
adjustment of the 1990 census, saying in an April 1991 letter to
Secretary Mosbacher that an undercount in Georgia would "seriously
dilut[e]" minority voting strength in the state. Dr. Groves told
senators at his May 2009 confirmation hearing that he would not
advocate for a statistical adjustment of the 2010 census and that the
Census Bureau had not researched or prepared to implement the complex
scientific procedure.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
created the seven-member GOP Census Task Force in February, after
expressing concern over what Republicans viewed as politicization of the
census by the White House. (See February 23, 2009 Census News Brief for more information on the Task Force.)
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SAN FRANCISCO URGES IN-LANGUAGE
MESSAGES ON CENSUS ADVANCE LETTER
The
City and County of San Francisco has told Census Director Robert Groves
that it would "consider all available options to ensure that the Census
counts" all of its residents, if the Census Bureau does not include
multilingual messages in the advance letter sent to homes next March,
alerting residents to the start of the census and the arrival of
questionnaires. City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Board of
Supervisors President David Chiu urged Dr. Groves to "reconsider your
decision to abandon the multilingual advance letter," saying the change
from past practice was "bad policy that will undermine the accuracy of
the Census and will worsen the already disproportional undercounts of
communities where English is not the primary language."
The
August 12 letter noted that almost half of San Francisco's households
speak a language other than English at home and that, of those, more
than half say they do not speak English very well, according to Census
Bureau estimates. In the 2000 census, the advance notification
letter included information in five languages other than English
(Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog), allowing
respondents to check a box and mail back the letter to receive a form
in one of those languages. The letter also offered a toll-free
number for assistance in a non-English language.
The Census
Bureau's 2010 Census Advisory Committee established a subcommittee to
review the issue of in-language messages on the advance letter, after
the stakeholder panel expressed concern about the Census Bureau's plan
at its May 2009 meeting. Agency staff said the 2000 census
procedure resulted in some households mailing back questionnaires in
English and another language, and that the advance letter prompted only
100,000 telephone requests for an in-language form, a number they said
did not justify the resulting operational difficulties. The
Census Bureau will rely instead on its public information campaign and
partner organizations to spread the word about the availability of
in-language questionnaires and assistance guides in 2010. San
Francisco officials said that while they "applaud" these efforts, "we
believe it is vital that people receive direct correspondence from the
Bureau in a language they can understand." They noted that an
undercount would "cost the City at least tens of millions of dollars in
federal funds" and "lead to distortions in electoral apportionment."
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STAKEHOLDER ACTIVITIES
Illinois philanthropies launch 2010 census initiative: On September 2, ten leading foundations in Illinois launched the Count Me In campaign,
an unprecedented collaborative effort to support 2010 census outreach
and promotion activities targeting hard-to-count populations in the
state. The foundations announced grants, totaling $1.2 million,
to 26 organizations that will fund 60 nonprofits whose goal is to
increase census participation in 37 targeted communities. The
philanthropic alliance includes the Joyce Foundation, The Chicago
Community Trust, The Chicago Bar Foundation, and The Boeing Company.
In
a press statement announcing the grantees, Joyce Foundation President
Ellen Alberding said, "The groups we fund -- using tactics ranging from
door-knocking and celebrity text messaging to barber shop and church
outreach -- could persuade thousands of Illinoisans to be
counted." Nora Moreno Cargie, Director of Global Corporate
Citizenship at Boeing, said the initiative presented "a tremendous
opportunity to leverage the strengths of the organizations we are
funding to ensure that Chicago and other Illinois communities are on
strong economic footing for the next decade."
A full description of Count Me In and a list of grantees and their planned projects are available at http://www.joycefdn.org/2010census.
Campaign targets Asian American communities: The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) launched a
2010 census campaign to promote participation in the diverse Asian
American community. The Twenty10 Projectwill
feature multilingual educational materials, including fact sheets in
English and 13 other languages, such as Arabic, Bengali, Korean, and
Tagalog.
At the August 11 initiative launch, AALDEF staff
attorney and project director Glenn Magpantay said, "[A]n accurate
count of the Asian American population is essential." The group
says it will monitor census operations and "advocat[e] for crucial
changes to Census policies," including "stronger enforcement of the
confidentiality of census information, expansion of the Telephone
Questionnaire Assistance (TQA) program, and relaxed immigration
enforcement during enumeration."
For more information on the AALDEF census initiative and to download the multilingual fact sheets, go to http://www.aaldef.org/article.php?article_id=409.
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CENSUS APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE
Congress
returns to work this week with less than a month to complete work on
funding bills for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins on October 1. The
House of Representatives approved its version of the FY2010 Commerce,
Justice, and Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 2847) in June. The bill
allocates about $7.2 billion for the Census Bureau, including $6.7
billion for the 2010 census. The funding level is $206 million below
the Administration's budget request of $7.375 billion, after an
apparent misunderstanding between appropriators and the Commerce
Department over whether that amount represented a carry-over of funds
from FY2009 (it was, in fact, committed to a media buy for the 2010
census). The Census Bureau said it would need to dip into a $573
million contingency fund if the money is not restored when
appropriators finalize the bill in a conference committee.
The
Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the Commerce
spending bill in early July, allocating $7.32 billion for the Census
Bureau. The committee reduced the agency's budget request by $50
million, which it said reflected inflated assumptions about the cost of
mileage reimbursement for census field workers. The full Senate has
not yet considered the measure.
If Congress does not complete
action on all 12 regular appropriations bills by October 1,
it must pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep federal agencies and
programs running in the new fiscal year until enactment of final
FY2010 funding bills. Temporary appropriations measures usually fund
programs at current year levels, a situation that would jeopardize
final preparations for the 2010 census, whose funding will more than
double from 2009 to 2010.
Congress can include an exception for
the Census Bureau in a Continuing Resolution, to allow the agency to
spend at the higher 2010 levels that Congress is likely to approve in
the end. A series of temporary appropriations bills for fiscal years
2008 and 2009 included exceptions (called "anomalies") for the Census
Bureau, which was already gearing up for the decennial count. However, a six
week delay in approving an exception from flat-line funding for Fiscal
Year 2008 forced the Census Bureau to push back and curtail the 2008
Census Dress Rehearsal.
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THE REST OF THE NEWS ...
2008 ACS data release set for Sept. and Oct.: The Census Bureau will release annual one-year estimates from the American Community Survey on September 22, 2009,
for all jurisdictions with a population of 65,000 or greater, as well
as for congressional districts. The release will include data on
health insurance coverage, marital history, and veterans'
service-connected disability for the first time. The Census
Bureau will publish three-year estimates for all geographic areas with a population greater than 20,000 on October 27, 2009.
In
past years, the Census Bureau released annual ACS data on a flow basis
starting in late August, when many lawmakers and journalists are on
vacation. The three-year estimates will now be available six
weeks earlier than in 2008, the first time the Census Bureau released
data for smaller areas. These estimates are compiled from
information collected in 2006 through 2008, a method designed to ensure
adequate sample size for less populous areas. The first census
tract-level estimates from the ACS -- called "five-year estimates" --
will be released in Fall 2010, compiled from data gathered in 2005
through 2009.
The ACS was launched nationwide in 2005 (group
quarters were added in 2006) to gather a wide range of economic,
demographic, and housing information previously gathered only
once-a-decade on the decennial census "long form." As a result,
the 2010 census will feature only a "short form," with 10 questions
covering six topics.
Commerce Secretary speech to journalists highlights census: Secretary
of Commerce Gary Locke used his speech to the 20th Annual National
Conference of the Asian American Journalists Association to highlight
the importance of the 2010 census, especially for the Asian-American
community, whose share of the U.S. population has been growing
rapidly. The Secretary, whose department houses the U.S. Census
Bureau, described the important uses of census data and applauded the
vast public information campaign already underway to promote the
count. "Even with this unprecedented full-court press by Census,
misperceptions and misinformation persist," Secretary Locke said,
describing how fears about the census are "not irrational" but are
ultimately "unfounded."
Secretary Locke was the first Chinese
American elected governor (Washington State) and is married to a former
television journalist. For the full text of Secretary Locke's
August 12th speech, go to http://www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/SecretarySpeeches/PROD01_008301.
Census advisory committees plan fall meetings:The
Census Bureau's Census Advisory Committee of Professional Associations
(CACPA) will meet on October 8 - 9, 2009, to discuss policy, research,
and technical issues related to the 2010 census, as well as other
agency economic and demographic programs. The committee's 36
members offer expertise in demographics, statistics, economics,
marketing, and related scientific disciplines. The meeting will
run from 8:30AM - 5:15PM on October 8 and from 8:30AM - 12:15PM on
October 9.
The
Census Bureau's five Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees will meet
jointly on October 28 - 30, 2009, to discuss the 2010 census
Communications Campaign, Partnership Program, and other decennial
activities, including the American Community Survey. The REACs
represent the views of the African American, American Indian and Alaska
Native, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
populations. The REAC sessions will run from 1:00 - 5:00PM on
October 28, 9:00AM - 4:45PM on October 29, and 9:00AM - 12:00PM on
October 30.
Both
meetings will take place at Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, MD,
and are open to the public. Visitors must present photo ID and
call 301-763-3231 upon arrival at the building.
The
2010 Census Advisory Committee plans to meet on November 5 - 6, 2009;
the Census Bureau has not yet released a schedule for that meeting.
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Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal,
an independent legislative and policy consultant specializing in the
census and federal statistics. All views expressed in the News Briefs
are solely those of the author. Please direct questions about the
information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at TerriAnn2K@aol.com.
Please feel free to circulate this document to other interested
individuals and organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the
nonpartisan Census Project, organized by the Communications Consortium
Media Center in Washington, DC. Previous Census News Briefs are posted
at www.thecensusproject.org.
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