**** C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N ****
Vol. 3 - No. 2 Feb. 3, 1999
If April 1, 2000, comes and goes and no census form shows up
in the mail, or if a resident doesn't understand something
on their questionnaire, they can call any of six toll-free
numbers for Telephone Questionnaire Assistance (TQA).
In one of the more innovative operations in the next census,
the Census Bureau last Dec. 23 signed a contract with
Electronic Data Systems Corp. worth up to $100 million to
build and manage a network of 30 call centers that will
provide an array of TQA services.
This is the first time that the Census Bureau has contracted
for TQA services. In 1990, the Census Bureau itself hired
and trained temporary staff at seven processing offices and
more than 400 district offices to handle calls from an
estimated 6 million residents.
In 2000, the Census Bureau expects up to 11 million in-bound
calls from people who have questions about the census or the
census questionnaire, need assistance to complete the
questionnaire or require support in Spanish, Chinese,
Vietnamese, Tagalog or Korean. The call centers will be in
operation during a three-month period from March 3 to June
8. About 80 percent of the calls will come in during a
three-week period before and immediately after April 1.
The TQA program will manage incoming calls from the public
and outgoing calls by call center operators who may need to
obtain missing information or clarify information on
mailed-in questionnaires. The agents may, in certain
circumstances, conduct a telephone interview on request for
people who are having difficulty completing the paper
questionnaire.
Although most people should find the instructions on the
questionnaire straightforward and easy to follow, the Census
Bureau felt the necessity to offer telephone assistance to
those people who otherwise might not be able to complete the
paper questionnaire.
The specially-trained contractor operators will be on duty
between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in all time zones while an
automated Interactive Voice Response system, with menus in
English and Spanish, will be in place 24 hours a day during
the three-month period.
TQA will cover all 50 states, the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico and includes a Census Bureau-supported toll-free
telephone device for the deaf (TDD) at its Hagerstown, Md.,
call center. "We believe that providing this type of
assistance to people with questions about their forms can
directly affect the quality and completeness of the census,"
said Ed Wagner, the Census Bureau's senior manager for TQA.
"This program will likely be the first personal contact that
many respondents have with the Census Bureau. Our ability to
handle their inquiries in a professional and accurate manner
will directly influence their view of the census, the Census
Bureau and the federal government in general."
Wagner added: "The growth of the call-center industry in
this country allows us to acquire both the infrastructure
and expertise necessary to mount this one-time, short-term
effort for the census. It would not be cost-effective for us
to build the type of infrastructure needed to conduct this
kind of one-time, short-duration activity." EDS' teammates
on the contract include Centrobe Inc., Affina Corp., APAC
TeleServices Inc., Call Interactive, GeoTel, Precision
Response Corp., TeleTech Holdings Inc. and West TeleServices
Corp.
For further information about the TQA program, contact Ed
Wagner on 301-457-4031 (fax: 301-457-4411; e-mail:
edwin.b.wagner.jr(a)ccmail.census.gov
From: Census2000(a)ccmc.org
Lawmakers Seek Legislative Solutions In Wake of Supreme
Court Ruling in Census Case
Several bills have been introduced in Congress that would,
if enacted, change the way the 2000 census is conducted.
House census subcommittee Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL)
introduced "The Local Census Quality Control Act" (H.R. 472)
to require that local government officials be allowed to
review preliminary census housing unit and population
counts. Rep. Miller said the bill is "designed to provide a
much needed quality check on census numbers before they
become final."
The Census Bureau replaced the 1990 Post Census Local Review
with expanded pre-census activities that give local
governments an opportunity to review and make changes to
address lists and maps. Last week, the chairman unveiled an
initiative, called America Counts Today, to enhance
traditional counting methods. Reinstating post census local
review was one component of that proposal.
The census subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on the local
review program for Thursday, February 11, at 10:00 a.m., in
room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building.
Reacting to the recent Supreme Court ruling in Department of
Commerce v. U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Carolyn
Maloney (D-NY) introduced legislation (H.R. 548) to allow
sampling to produce the census numbers used for all purposes
if the Secretary of Commerce deems it feasible. The census
subcommittee's senior Democrat was joined by 33 original
cosponsors in her effort to amend section 195 of the Census
Act (title
13, United States Code), which the high Court said bars
sampling to calculate the state population totals used for
congressional apportionment.
Rep. Maloney said she introduced the legislation because the
Court's decision "force[s] the Bureau to produce two sets of
numbers from the same census, and use the less accurate
number to apportion seats" in Congress. Rep. Maloney
announced that Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) and Sen. Jeff
Bingaman (D-NM) would introduce a companion bill in the
Senate. Both the Miller and Maloney bills were referred to
the Committee on Government Reform.
Last month, Sen. Moynihan introduced S. 166, which would
require the Commerce Secretary to determine annually how
much federal aid each State gained or lost because of
undercounts or overcounts in the census. The bill was
referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
More congressional committee assignments: Republicans on the
House Committee on Government Reform have named their
members to the census subcommittee, which authorizes and
oversees activities of the Census Bureau. Below is the full
panel line-up.
Subcommittee on the Census House Committee on Government
Reform
114 O'Neill House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Republicans
Rep. Dan Miller, Chairman (FL)
Rep. John Doolittle (CA)
Rep. Thomas M. Davis (VA)
Rep. Paul Ryan (WI)
Rep. Mark Souder (IN)
Democrats
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Ranking Member (NY)
Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL)
Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr. (TN)
Correction: In the February 2 News Alert, we incorrectly
attributed a statement to Commerce Under Secretary Robert
Shapiro concerning the Post Census Local Review (PCLR)
program conducted during the 1990 census. The Census
Bureau's decision not to continue this program in the 2000
census was discussed at a mayor's conference on January 27th
in Washington, D.C. In response to a comment by Detroit
Mayor Dennis Archer, Mr. Shapiro praised the city for its
successful partnership with the Bureau to improve the
accuracy of the address lists being prepared for 2000. Mr.
Shapiro did not say that many of the people added to the
1990 census through PCLR lived in Detroit. That statement
was made by Rep. Maloney, who participated in the panel
discussion along with Mr. Shapiro, Rep. Dan Miller, and
Census Monitoring Board Co-Chair Kenneth Blackwell. We
apologize for the mistake.
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>. 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>
President Sends 2000 Budget Request to Congress
Monitoring Board Issues Two Reports
President Clinton's fiscal year 2000 (FY00) budget proposal,
sent to Congress yesterday, includes $2.789 billion for the
decennial census, an increase of $1.76 billion over the
appropriation for the current year. The budget request was
prepared before the Supreme Court ruled last week that the
Census Act prohibits sampling to calculate the state
population totals for congressional apportionment purposes.
The Census Bureau is developing a new plan for 2000 that
conforms to the Court's opinion. The cost of that plan is
expected to be significantly higher than the current
request.
The largest portion of the ten-year cost of the census is
spent in the year the count takes place. In FY00, the
Census Bureau will: launch the full-scale paid advertising
campaign; mail (or hand-deliver in sparsely-populated areas)
questionnaires to the 118 million residential addresses on
its list; hire several hundred thousand temporary
enumerators to visit households that do not respond by mail;
and process the data as forms are returned.
The budget request for the census also includes funding for
the American Community Survey (ACS), a new program being
developed to eliminate the need for a census long form in
2010 by collecting demographic and housing data throughout
the decade. The Bureau plans to collect ACS data from a
national sample of households, in order to compare the
results with the 2000 census and establish a benchmark for
the full-scale survey starting in 2003. Because FY00 ends
on September 30, 2000, the cost of tabulating and publishing
the census data will be included in the budget for fiscal
year 2001.
Funding for the decennial census is part of the Periodic
Censuses and Programs ("Periodics") account, one of two main
funding categories for the Census Bureau. The Periodics
account covers other activities that support census
operations, such as mapping and address list development
under Geographic Support and technology for data
processing. Excluding decennial census funding, the
President requested $156 million for the remainder of the
Periodics account, about $31 million over this year's
funding level. The second main funding category for the
Bureau is Salaries and Expenses (S & E), which covers
ongoing surveys to collect important demographic, economic,
and social data. The President proposed $157 million for
the S & E account, $21 million more than the current year's
allocation.
As Congress considers the Bureau's budget for FY00, it also
must contend with funding for the last quarter of the
current fiscal year. Last fall, Congress and the
Administration agreed to appropriate funds for the Commerce,
Justice, State and The Judiciary budget account only through
June 15, 1999, in order to allow more time to resolve the
long-standing controversy over the use of sampling methods
in the census.
Census Monitoring Board reports: The eight-member Census
Monitoring Board, established one year ago pursuant to a
provision in the Census Bureau's FY98 funding bill,
submitted its first reports to Congress late last week.
Reaching sharply different conclusions about how best to
eliminate the persistent census undercount, the four members
appointed by the congressional Republican leadership
submitted one report, while the four members appointed by
the President submitted their own document.
Saying that it is "impossible to produce an accurate or
complete count using traditional methods of census
enumeration," the Presidentially-appointed members concluded
that a post-enumeration survey (PES) to measure the accuracy
of the count is "an essential part of any modern census."
They noted that the decision on whether the Bureau should
produce two sets of census numbers in light of the recent
Supreme Court ruling is "a political issue outside of the
Board's purview" but said a PES is necessary to avoid "a
massive undercount of minorities and children." The
Presidential appointees recommended hiring more personnel
and spending more money on advertising in areas
with high undercount rates, as well as grants to local
governments to help with address list development. They
endorsed the Bureau's decision to replace the Post Census
Local Review program conducted in 1990 with pre-census
activities to improve the accuracy of the address lists,
called Local Update of Census Addresses, or LUCA. The
Presidential members also urged the Bureau to conduct
extensive research into the use of administrative records
for future censuses.
Saying they "strongly disagree" with statistical adjustment
of the census, the congressionally-appointed members wrote
that their report revolves around a question: "When it comes
to the census, if proven methods can find real people, why
do we want to guess?" They concluded that the Bureau's
planned uses of sampling "favor[s] national accuracy at the
expense of local accuracy" and offered several steps they
said ould "find real people where they really live." The
congressional appointees recommended giving local officials
an opportunity to review population and housing unit counts
before the final tally, as they did in 1990 during the Post
Census Local Review program, and supported reinstatement of
a 1990 program to locate people on parole or probation using
administrative records. They also advocated using Medicaid,
Food Stamp, and other program records to find children who
might be missed. The congressional members also asked
Commerce William Daley to meet with them on a regular basis.
The U.S. General Accounting Office concluded in a 1992
critique of the last census that coverage improvement
programs "contributed relatively little to the census counts
and showed evidence of high rates of erroneous
enumerations," although they did add some people to the
count who otherwise would have been missed. Post Census
Local Review (PCLR), the parolee/probationer check, and a
recheck of vacant housing units were among the programs used
in 1990 to improve the count after nonresponse follow-up
was completed. The Monitoring Board held a hearing on
administrative records last fall. All of the witnesses
concluded that existing program records could not be used to
reduce the disproportionate undercount of people of color
and children in 2000. According to Census Bureau
evaluations, about half of the 500,000 people added to the
1990 census using parole and probation records were included
erroneously.
The decision not to conduct PCLR in 2000 was part of the
fundamental redesign of the census process. The Bureau
determined that working with local governments in advance to
compile the address lists and conducting a quality-check
survey to measure under- and overcounts in the initial tally
would improve accuracy more than a massive recanvass of
neighborhoods late in the census process. At a meeting of
mayors last week in Washington, D.C., Detroit Mayor Dennis
Archer urged the Bureau to let local officials review
preliminary counts in 2000 but also voiced continued support
for statistical sampling to produce more accurate numbers.
Under Secretary of Commerce Robert Shapiro noted that a high
percentage of the people added to the 1990 census during
PCLR lived in Detroit.
The report prepared by the congressional members of the
Monitoring Board is available on their web site at
http://www.cmbc.gov/ . The Presidential appointees' report
will be available through the Government Printing Office web
site.
Congressional oversight hearings: The House Subcommittee on
the Census held a hearing in Phoenix, AZ, on January 29, to
discuss local suggestions for conducting an accurate count
in 2000. Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-NY), the panel's chairman and senior Democrat
respectively, were joined by two members of Arizona's
congressional delegation, Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R-AZ) and
Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ). Witness included local officials,
civic leaders, and several representatives of American
Indian Tribes. We will provide a summary of the proceedings
in a future News Alert.
Nearly 20 local elected officials and community activists
signed a letter to Reps. Miller and Maloney, recommending
ways to ensure an accurate count in Phoenix and the State of
Arizona. The letter noted the high percentage of Hispanic
Americans in the city and state populations, as well as the
large number of American Indians living on reservations.
The letters also urged Congress to support the use of
sampling methods for purposes other than congressional
apportionment, saying failure to do so would ensure an
undercount of people of color and low-income people in
2000. Signers included senior officials from the Arizona
Education Association, Urban League of Greater Phoenix,
National Congress of American Indians, Arizona Hispanic
Community Forum, League of Women Voters, Asian Chamber of
Commerce, and American Jewish Committee, and Avondale Mayor
Thomas Morales Jr.
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>. Please direct all
requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in
address/phone/fax/e-mail, to Census 2000 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>
Sampling Supporters and Critics Spar over Reach of Supreme
Court Ruling
Rep. Miller Proposal Would Expand Traditional Methods
Legislators and stakeholder organizations offered sharply
different interpretations of last week's Supreme Court
ruling in a census lawsuit challenging the use of sampling
to count the population. In its 5-4 decision issued January
25, the Court held that the Census Act bars sampling to
calculate the state population totals for purposes of
congressional apportionment. But writing for the majority,
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor also said that the same
provision of law "require[s] that sampling be used for
[purposes other than apportionment] if 'feasible.'" (See
January 27 News Alert for a summary of the decision and
Administration reaction.)
Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL), who chairs the census subcommittee,
said that the Court "has ruled that sampling is dead." He
urged the Administration not to "sidestep the Court's ruling
by insisting the Census Bureau be required to produce two
numbers in 2000, one based on counting and the other based
on polling." Speaking at the annual mid-winter meeting of
the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the chairman said the Court
also forbade the use of sampling to derive the numbers used
for redistricting (i.e., drawing the political boundaries
within states). Whether adjusted census numbers based on
sampling can be used to distribute Federal funds, Rep.
Miller noted, is "a totally separate issue." At a census
subcommittee hearing last fall, the chairman said that
"sampling is an issue of apportionment of representatives
not, I repeat, not the distribution of federal aid"
(emphasis in original statement). However, the congressman
also appeared to rule out the need for a second set of
counts, saying, "the Bureau has long felt that two sets of
numbers would breed controversy and confusion."
According to press accounts, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), who
chairs the Census Bureau's funding subcommittee, said his
panel would not provide funds for a census that includes
sampling. Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), head of the House
appropriations subcommittee, said he "expect[s] the
administration to move forward with a legal census, and
we've already provided the necessary money to do so."
Supporters of the Census Bureau's original plan to
supplement traditional counting methods with statistical
sampling said that the narrow focus of the decision on
apportionment means that the 2000 census must produce a
second set of numbers, if the Bureau deems it feasible, for
all other purposes. "The court left in place the
requirement to produce accurate, adjusted numbers for
distributing federal funds and drawing the lines of every
federal, state and local legislative district in the
country," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the senior
Democrat on the census subcommittee. The congresswoman said
President Clinton would veto any legislation that restricted
the Bureau's ability to use sampling for non-apportionment
purposes. Congress must pass a spending bill by June 15 to
keep funds flowing to the Census Bureau, the Commerce
Department and several other federal departments. Rep.
Maloney also questioned how statistically adjusted numbers
would be available for distributing federal funds if the
Bureau does not produce two sets of census counts.
Southeastern Legal Foundation president Matthew Glavin, who
filed the lawsuit that led to the Court ruling, said "the
integrity of the census count, on which we base political
representation across America, is protected and intact."
The Citizens for an Honest Count Coalition, a group of 30
organizations opposed to sampling, hailed the Court's
decision as "a great victory for the rule of law."
Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax increase organization
that spearheaded the Coalition, said the Court "blocked
Clinton's population polling scheme that was a partisan
attempt to gain more Democratic seats in the House of
Representatives."
Echoing the response of many civil rights advocates, the
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, which
represented several parties in the lawsuit, said it would
continue to press for a census that includes sampling
methods to correct undercounts and overcounts for
non-apportionment purposes such as redistricting and the
allocation of federal funds. The Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights, comprising 180 organizations, also urged
Congress to lift the statutory ban on the use of sampling to
produce the apportionment numbers. The American Jewish
Congress said Congress must allow the use of statistical
methods "if it is concerned about accurately knowing how
many Americans there are and where they live."
Attorneys for the City of Los Angeles, which led a group of
states, cities and Members of Congress who intervened in
support of the Census Bureau's plan, said they would return
to court, if necessary, "to compel the use of [sampling] to
assure the fair allocation of federal funds." At the Mayors'
conference, Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
Robert Shapiro said the Bureau would release a new census
plan in a few weeks that conforms to the Supreme Court's
ruling.
Rep. Miller proposes initiative to bolster traditional
counting methods: Following the Supreme Court ruling last
week, Rep. Miller proposed several initiatives "designed to
increase local community involvement and count everyone in
the next census." Calling his plan America Counts Today
(ACT), the census panel chairman said the President and
congressional Democrats must "put partisanship aside so we
can work together to save the 2000 census." The proposal
includes hiring at least 100,000 additional census
enumerators to work in the hardest-to-count communities;
reinstating the Post Census Local Review program (used in
1990) that gave local officials a chance to review
population and housing unit counts before the final tally;
adding $300 million to the $100 million paid advertising
campaign; providing matching federal grants to communities
and nonprofit groups for outreach activities; sending a
second census form to all households; and asking Americorps
participants to help with the count.
In response to Miller's proposal, unveiled at the Mayors'
conference, Rep. Maloney said that New York City allocated
additional funds and personnel to help with the 1990 census
but the effort still fell short. Relatively few people were
added to the count through the Post Census Local Review
program, the congresswoman said. According to Census Bureau
evaluations, the 1990 program added about 125,000 people to
the census at a cost of $9.6 million; subsequent research
found that 12 percent of those additions were incorrect.
Rep. Maloney also expressed concern about the Bureau's
ability to hire more enumerators in a tight labor market.
Tomorrow: Census Monitoring Board issues two reports;
President sends 2000 budget request to Congress.
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>. Please direct all
requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in
address/phone/fax/e-mail, to Census 2000 at
<Census2000(a)ccmc.org> or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to
circulate this information to colleagues and other
interested individuals.
Can someone send me a link or an attached document that has either or both
1) the proposed long form for 2000 (an example) 2) the 1990 long form...
Thanks.....
Joshua Masnick Kim Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
West Virginia University - Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Morgantown WV 26506-6326
PO Box 6326
phone (304) 293-5801 ext. 1633
fax (304) 293-5994
e-mail: jkim4(a)wvu.eduhttp://www.as.wvu.edu:8080/jkim/
