The following is a note sent to me by Valerie Murdock, Census Bureau,
Geography Division.
Nanda Srinivasan
*****************************
November 22, 1999 was the absolute cut-off date. Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ)
polygon equivalency file submissions are no longer accepted by the Census
Bureau. Polygon equivalency files that are sent via the Census Bureau*s File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) site or as email attachments after this date will be
processed only if resources are available. The Census Bureau will not
guarantee that files received after November 22, 1999 will be inserted into
the TIGER data base.
Traffic Analysis Zone Verification Phase II * TIGER/Line 1999
The Census Bureau will create a verification TIGER/Line file for the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) to distribute to the Metropolitan Planning
Organizations (MPOs) and state Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies for
the verification phase of the TAZ program. The files will be available for
release between January and March 2000 to all participants that submitted a
TAZ polygon equivalency file to delineate Census 2000 TAZs.During the
verification phase of the TAZ program, participants will have an opportunity
to review the Census 2000 TAZ boundaries, and submit corrections and limited
revisions. Participants will only submit a new polygon equivalency file if
they have more than 20 corrections or revisions to their Census 2000 TAZ plan,
otherwise participants may submit sketch maps. TAZ participants will have 30
days to complete their verification work and resubmit any corrections. There
will not be another opportunity to review the Census 2000 TAZs prior to the
release of the Census Transportation Planning Package (CTPP) 2000.Verification
TIGER/Line files are based on an extract of the TIGER data base with a
reference date of January 1, 1999 for governmental unit boundaries. These
files will include proposed Census 2000 TAZs, along with an updated feature
network, current governmental unit boundaries, including American Indian
reservation and trust land boundaries, and proposed Census 2000 statistical
area boundaries such as census tracts, census block groups, census designated
places (CDPs), and census county divisions (CCDs).
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Congress Clears Spending Bills for 2000;
Census Gets $4.5 Billion in "Emergency" Funds
Congress last week took its final steps to ensure funding for Census
2000 and other Federal activities in the fiscal year that began on
October 1, passing and sending to the President for his expected
signature a large spending package that includes funds for Census 2000.
The measure allocates about $4.5 billion for decennial census
operations, an amount that includes an extra $1.7 billion the Census
Bureau requested last June to pay for its revised census plan. All
funds for Census 2000 are designated as "emergency spending," meaning
the expense didn't't count against strict spending caps set by Congress
earlier in the budget process.
Appropriators agreed to relax a provision in an earlier version of the
Census Bureau's funding bill that requires the agency to obtain approval
from Congress before transferring money between census activities.
Under the modified provision, the Bureau must give three days notice
before shifting funds between operational accounts.
After weeks of negotiations, Congress and the Clinton Administration
reached final agreement on a wide range of controversial issues that
were delaying enactment of five of the 13 annual appropriations bills.
The package includes an across-the-board reduction of 0.38 percent in
all discretionary, or non-entitlement, federal spending. However,
agency heads are given flexibility to apply the cut as they see fit to
the activities under their purview. The House of Representatives passed
the spending package by a vote of 296 - 135 on November 18; the Senate
followed suit a day later, approving the bill by a vote of 74 - 24.
To discourage legislators from stalling final passage of the omnibus
measure, congressional leaders used the District of Columbia spending
bill (H.R. 3194) as the vehicle for moving the remaining four
appropriations bills, by referencing new versions of them in the
legislative language. The final version of the Commerce, Justice, State,
and The Judiciary appropriations bill, which covers Census Bureau
programs, was reintroduced earlier in the week as H.R. 3421. (The
original bill, which the President vetoed on October 25, was H.R. 2670.)
Congress has adjourned for the year, bringing the first session of the
106th Congress to a close. Before heading home to their states and
districts, lawmakers approved an eighth 'continuing resolution') that
funds government agencies covered by the omnibus spending package
through December 2, to give the President time to sign the final bill.
Stakeholder activities: The Commerce Secretary's 2000 Census Advisory
Committee will meet on December 2-3 at the Embassy Suites Alexandria,
1900 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, VA (tel. 703/684-5900. The meeting runs
from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. on December 2 and 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. on
December 3. The preliminary agenda includes updates on census field
operations, advertising, data products, race and ethnic data tabulation,
and evaluation plans, as well as reports from the National Academy of
Sciences/National Research Council census panel and the Race and Ethnic
Advisory Committees. The meeting is open to the public.
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. For copies of previous News Alerts and other
information, use our web site www.census2000.org
<http://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.
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Key Issues Update: Census 2000 Funding;
Ad Campaign Launch; State Activities
Census 2000 Funding: The Census Bureau continues to prepare for next
year's decennial count while operating under a temporary spending law
that covers large parts of the federal government. With a stopgap
measure to keep federal agencies running set to expire at midnight
today, Congress is rushing to pass another short-term funding bill,
called a "continuing resolution," before recessing for Veterans Day.
The continuing resolution -- the fifth since the start of fiscal year
2000 on October 1 -- will run through November 17 during which time
Congress and the Administration will continue their efforts to resolve
differences over five remaining annual spending bills. The latest
measure includes adequate funds for Census 2000 activities based on the
Census Bureau's estimates of its short term spending needs.
Congress and the Administration have yet to agree on a final
appropriation, or spending, bill that will cover the Departments of
Commerce, Justice, and The Judiciary for fiscal year 2000 (FY00). Last
month, Congress passed a bill that included $4.5 billion for Census 2000
as the House of Representatives had recommended, instead of only the
$2.8 billion approved by the Senate. For reasons unrelated to the
census, the so-called "conference bill" (H.R. 2670) was contentious,
barely slipping through the House on a largely party-line vote of
215-213 vote on October 20. The Senate quickly approved the bill by
voice vote the same day, sending it to the White House for President
Clinton's anticipated veto, which came on October 25.
The President's opposition to the Commerce spending bill in its current
form has focused on disputes with the Republican congressional
leadership over payment of back dues to the United Nations and funding
for a community policing program. But the President's veto message
included a statement of concern about a provision affecting Census 2000
funds. The conference bill retained language drafted by House
appropriators requiring the Census Bureau to obtain approval from
Congress before transferring money between decennial census spending
accounts. The bill divides the $4.5 billion for Census 2000 among broad
categories of census operations, such as advertising and promotion,
field data collection, and data processing in the same manner as the
House bill that was initially approved in early August. (For a
breakdown of the $4.5 billion, see our August 2 News Alert, posted on
the Census 2000 Initiative web site at www.census2000.org
<http://www.census2000.org>, under News Alert Archive.) Census Bureau
Director Kenneth Prewitt objected to the provision, saying in a letter
last month to congressional overseers that the reprogramming requirement
could "compromise" census operations if Congress delayed approval of
requests to transfer funds. In his veto message, President Clinton
called the requirement "an unnecessary and potentially time-consuming
constraint on the management of the decennial census."
Eight of the 13 annual appropriations bills for FY00 have been signed
into law. One of the bills vetoed earlier by the President, covering
the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services,
contained an across-the-board cut of nearly one percent for all
non-mandatory federal programs, in an effort to keep funding levels
below strict spending caps set in earlier budget negotiations and to
avoid the perception of dipping into the Social Security trust fund.
The Administration strongly opposes an across-the-board cut which, if
enacted, would apply to the census.
The Commerce spending bill also includes $20 million for the Census
Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), a new program the Bureau is
developing to collect more timely demographic and economic information
throughout the decade. Full implementation of the ACS could eliminate
the need for a traditional long form in the 2010 census and beyond. The
Senate had provided $25 million for continued testing of the ACS in 31
sites around the country, the amount requested by the Administration.
Other congressional news: The House of Representatives passed a
resolution on November 2, expressing its support for census partnerships
with state and local governments, civic organizations, and community
leaders, to encourage census participation. House Concurrent Resolution
193 "reaffirms the spirit of cooperation that exists between Congress
and the Bureau of the Census with respect to achieving a successful
census." Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the
chairman and senior Democratic member (respectively) of the House census
oversight subcommittee, jointly sponsored the "sense of the Congress"
resolution. The Senate has not acted on the measure.
State legislative activity update: Late last month, the Michigan Senate
passed several bills requiring the use of census numbers produced
without sampling or statistical methods for post-census congressional
and state legislative redistricting. Similar bills are pending before
the state House of Representatives, which could consider them this
month.
Michigan is one of 16 states covered in whole or in part by section 5 of
the 1965 Voting Rights Act (as amended), which requires approval from
the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) for any changes to election law.
The 'pre-clearance' process is intended to prevent changes that have the
purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote of racial,
ethnic, or language minorities.
The USDOJ is continuing its review of a new Alaska law that prohibits
the use of census numbers compiled with sampling or statistical methods
for state legislative redistricting. (Alaska has only one congressional
district.) The USDOJ has until November 22 to approve or reject the
Alaska law, or to seek additional information from the state. In a
similar section 5 pre-clearance case, the State of Arizona is working to
provide USDOJ with additional information supporting its enactment of a
similar law last April.
California launches Complete Count Committee: The nation's most populous
state has launched a Complete Count Committee, backed by an
unprecedented level of state funds, in an effort to reduce the
undercount of Californians in the census. Governor Gray Davis (D-CA)
announced the committee's formation on November 8, pursuant to a state
law enacted earlier in the year that also allocated about $25 million
for a state-wide campaign to encourage census participation. In his
Executive Order establishing the California Complete Count Committee,
the Governor noted that "California had the largest population
undercount in the nation" in the 1990 census, which missed about 838,000
people, or 2.7 percent of the state's residents. Governor Davis also
said in a written press statement that, "California lost at least $2.2
billion in federal funds for education, health and human services
programs" and an additional seat in Congress as a result of the
undercount. "The Complete Count Committee will play a key role in
making sure that California's true population count will be accurately
reflected," he said. The Governor named California's Secretary of
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, Maria Contreras-Sweet, as
the committee's chairperson. Committee members include leaders in the
religious, education, civil rights, business, labor, and local
government arenas, as well as state elected officials.
Census Bureau launches advertising campaign: The Census Bureau
officially launched its outreach campaign for Census 2000 at a ceremony
in Washington, D.C. on October 27. Secretary of Commerce William Daley,
Under Secretary of Commerce Robert Shapiro, and Census Bureau Director
Kenneth Prewitt were joined by members of Congress and a wide range of
census stakeholders at the public event, at which the Census Bureau
unveiled its first-ever paid advertising campaign in support of the
decennial census. The broad outreach effort also includes a Census in
the Schools program and 30,000 partnerships with business,
community-based, and state and local government stakeholders. The
national advertising campaign began this month with an educational phase
designed to make people aware of Census 2000. The motivational phase
will start early next year, before census forms go in the mail in
mid-March.
In other operational news, the Census Bureau opened the second of three
Data Capture Centers in Pomona, California, last month. Completed
census questionnaires will be processed at three centers operated under
contract for the 2000 census by TRW Inc., as well as at the Bureau's
permanent processing facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The two other
temporary data capture centers are in Baltimore County, Maryland, and
Phoenix, Arizona. Lockheed Martin designed the data processing
equipment, which will use advanced imaging and optical character
recognition (OCR) technology to "read" the responses on more than 120
million census forms.
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. For copies of previous News Alerts and other
information, use our web site www.census2000.org
<http://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.
