[CTPP] CENSUS NEWS BRIEF 2-24-2009

[Ed Christopher]

CONGRESS SET TO FINISH 2009 FUNDING BILL; CENSUS FULLY FUNDED FOR 
CURRENT YEAR
Plus: President Reportedly Will Name New Commerce Secretary; and more.

Congressional appropriators are set to consider this week an omnibus 
funding bill (H.R. 1105) to pay for most non-defense federal programs 
for the remainder of FY2009, which ends September 30, 2009.  The $410 
billion measure allocates the full budget request of $3.14 billion for 
the Census Bureau, well more than double the 2008 appropriation of $1.26 
billion.  The bill is expected to go directly to the House floor, 
without a committee vote, and then on to the Senate.

The Bush Administration originally requested $2.635 billion for the 
Census Bureau this year, but amended its request last spring after 
problems with the large contract for GPS-equipped handheld computers 
forced the bureau to revise the way it will collect information from 
households that do not mail back a census form next year.  The 2010 
census “replan” issued in 2008 could increase the lifecycle cost of the 
decennial count by up to $3 billion.

The FY2009 appropriations measure includes $2.906 billion for Periodic 
Censuses and Programs, the overall account that covers the decennial 
census and American Community Survey.  The bill carries forward previous 
legislative language prohibiting the Census Bureau from eliminating the 
“Some Other Race” option on the census race question and from 
instituting a sweepstakes to encourage census participation.  The bill 
also encourages spending on “promotion, outreach, and marketing 
activities.”  “Periodics” funding also covers the quinquennial (every 
five years) economic and government censuses.

The joint explanatory statement accompanying the bill notes that 
Congress is providing full funding for the decennial census “to return 
the 2010 Census to a more reliable, paper-based operation, with the 
expectation that the new Administration will focus the requisite 
oversight to ensure a successful Decennial.”  The report says that a 
“lack of critical oversight” and “lack of attention” in the previous 
Administration “significantly increased the risk of failure” for the census.

The committee report highlights the importance of paid media in 
promoting the census, especially in minority communities and communities 
with limited English proficiency.  Appropriators directed the Census 
Bureau to reevaluate its communications program in light of the revised 
plan for nonresponse follow-up and to submit a comprehensive 
communications plan for 2010 to Congress.  They also expressed support 
for “robust partnership and outreach efforts … with specific focus on 
hard-to-reach populations.”

Other issues highlighted in the committee’s statement are language 
assistance programs for both the decennial census and American Community 
Survey (ACS); the importance of reliable census and ACS data for 
numerically small populations, such as Asian, Hispanic, and Pacific 
Islander subgroups; and Census in the Schools program, for which the 
committee directed the Census Bureau to spend at least $10 million on 
competitive grants and adult education materials in support of the 2010 
census.

The Census Bureau has already launched final preparations for the 2010 
census.  Key operations in FY2009 include:

•opening and staffing 150 “early” local census offices;
•canvassing all neighborhoods and rural areas to verify addresses (on 
the Master Address File) and geographic locations (in the TIGER system);
•finalizing data capture, data processing, and telecommunications systems;
•printing hundreds of millions of census questionnaires and other forms;
•developing a national advertising campaign;
•hiring additional national and regional staff to oversee field 
operations; and
•implementing a nationwide Partnership Program to engage government 
officials, civic leaders, community organizations, businesses, and other 
“gatekeepers” in support of the census.

Economic and demographic statistics:  The 2009 spending bill includes 
$233.6 million for Salaries and Expenses, the account covering ongoing 
collection of demographic and economic statistics.  House committee 
report language allocates $45.7 million of that amount -- $486,000 more 
than the previous Administration requested -- for the Survey of Income 
and Program Participation (SIPP), to maintain a sample size of 45,000 
households and improve the survey over the next several years.

The appropriations bill provides $90.6 million for the Commerce 
Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), which houses 
the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in addition to the Census Bureau. 
  The allocation is $500,000 more than the budget request.  BEA produces 
key economic statistics, including Gross Domestic Product, that support 
U.S. monetary and fiscal policies, trade negotiations, business 
planning, and personal savings and investment decisions.

Congressional appropriations process:  In the coming days and months, 
the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations will approve final 
funding levels for FY2009, and hold hearings and “mark-ups” to consider 
the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget request for federal 
departments and agencies.  The President will send his FY2010 budget to 
Congress on Thursday.

The Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science, and 
Related Agencies have jurisdiction over the Census Bureau and BEA.

House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, 
Science, and Related Agencies
Democrats				Republicans
H-309 The Capitol			1016 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515			Washington, DC 20515

Alan Mollohan (WV)			Frank Wolf (VA)
(Chairman) 				(Ranking Minority Member)
Patrick Kennedy (RI)			John Abney Culberson (TX)
Chaka Fattah (PA)			Robert B. Aderholt (AL)
Adam Schiff (CA)			Jo Bonner (AL)
Mike Honda (CA)				Jerry Lewis (CA) (ex officio)
C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (MD)		Peter J. Visclosky, (IN)
José E. Serrano, New York 		David Obey (WI)(ex offico)

Senate Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

Democrats				Republicans
SD-144 Dirksen S.O.B.			SH-123 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC 20510			Washington, DC 20510

Barbara Mikulski (MD)			Richard Shelby (AL)
(Chairman)				(Ranking Minority Member)
Patrick Leahy (VT)			Judd Gregg (NH)
Herb Kohl (WI)				Mitch McConnell (KY)
Tom Harkin (IA)				Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Byron Dorgan (ND)			Sam Brownback (KS)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)			Lamar Alexander (TN)
Jack Reed (RI)				Thad Cochran (MS) (ex officio)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)			Daniel Inouye (HI)(ex officio)

New Commerce Secretary reportedly chosen:  President Obama is prepared 
to nominate former Washington State Governor Gary Locke (D) to be 
Secretary of Commerce, a position that will give the nation’s first 
Chinese American governor a significant role in overseeing the 2010 
census, according to Administration sources quoted in several major 
newspapers.

Governor Locke, now a Seattle-based lawyer, is the President’s third 
nominee for the top Commerce post after two previous nominees, New 
Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, 
withdrew from consideration.

Mr. Locke served two terms as governor of Washington; he also served as 
a deputy prosecutor in King County (which includes the City of Seattle), 
member of the Washington House of Representatives, and King County chief 
executive.

Washington State was involved in a census lawsuit following the 1990 
count.  With encouragement from Congress, the Census Bureau included 
members of the armed forces and federal civilian personnel stationed 
abroad in the state population totals used to apportion seats in the 
U.S. House of Representatives.  The overseas population shifted a 
congressional seat from Massachusetts to Washington.

Massachusetts unsuccessfully challenged the Census Bureau’s decision to 
include overseas military and federal personnel in a case that went to 
the U.S. Supreme Court (Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U.S. 788, 1992). 
  The Court found that the Commerce Secretary’s decision to include 
members of the military stationed overseas in the apportionment totals 
could not be reviewed as a “final agency action” under the 
Administrative Procedure Act.  Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for 
a unanimous court, also wrote that including overseas government 
personnel was a reasonable interpretation of the intent of the 
Constitution’s census clause (Article I, section 2) to count people at 
their “usual place of residence.”  Washington State intervened as a 
party in support of the Commerce Department’s position.

The Administration also announced the nomination of April Boyd to be 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Legislative and Intergovernmental 
Affairs, a position that requires Senate confirmation.  Ms. Boyd is the 
chief of staff to Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and previously held 
positions with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and in the U.S. Department of 
Energy and U.S. General Services Administration.

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Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent 
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census 
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census.  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 at aol.com.

-- 
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)

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