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[CTPP] Census 2000 Initiative News Alert

by ed christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Virginia Lawmakers Move to Bar Use Of Scientifically-Corrected Census Numbers Plus: Census Bureau Clarifies Policy for Hiring Non-Citizens; Congressional Oversight Hearing Scheduled The Virginia House of Delegates approved a bill (HB 1486) that would require the use of unadjusted census figures for congressional, state, and local redistricting. The House bill, passed on February 9, now goes to the State Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of the Virginia legislature; Governor James Gilmore III (R) has said he supports efforts to prohibit the use of statistically-adjusted census numbers for redistricting. The Virginia action comes in the wake of similar debate in state houses across the country over the use of census numbers corrected on the basis of the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation, or ACE, survey. Under the Census 2000 plan, census enumerators will start contacting residents of the 300,000 households in the ACE survey, by telephone, in early May. Interviewing will begin in mid-June and continue through mid-August, 2000. Last year, four states -- Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, and Kansas -- enacted laws barring the use of census numbers derived in part through statistical sampling methods in the redistricting process. Alaska and Arizona must obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, under section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (as amended), before the new laws can take effect. Update on hiring policy for non-citizens: The Census Bureau has clarified its policy for hiring non-citizens during Census 2000. If the Bureau identifies a need for translation skills in certain communities, it will hire non-citizens (who are otherwise legally eligible to work in the United States) to help with the count, regardless of their country of origin. According to the Bureau, "In some communities employment of individuals with translation skills will emerge as an immediate hiring requirement. Candidates who meet these requirements and are legally authorized to work in the United States may be hired to work on the census." The Census Bureau may hire non-citizens for Census 2000 jobs that do not require translation skills if other legal constraints are followed. Last summer, the Department of Commerce issued a waiver allowing the Census Bureau to hire temporary employees for Census 2000 without giving priority to U.S. citizens. However a recent U.S. General Accounting Office report noted that since 1939, Congress has prohibited most Federal agencies from hiring non-citizens within the United States. But current law also grants certain exceptions to the ban, including persons from countries allied with the U.S. in a defense effort, citizens from Ireland, Israel, and the Philippines, and persons from U.S. territories. Another exception involves the need for translation skills, as the Bureau tries to persuade immigrants to participate in the census and helps them complete the forms. All qualified job applicants must be legally eligible to work in the United States. The Census Bureau must hire about 500,000 temporary employees to fill 860,000 positions during peak census operations. It hopes some workers will perform more than one job. Congressional hearing scheduled: The House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Census (Committee on Government Reform) will hold an oversight hearing on Tuesday, February 15, to discuss the U.S. General Accounting Office's oversight of Census 2000 operations. The hearing begins at 2:00 p.m. in room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building. 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.

25 years, 5 months

[CTPP] 1998 ACS Data released

by ed christopher

The Census Bureau today announced the release of the third edition of the American Community Survey CD-ROM featuring information from the 1998 survey. (The American Community Survey is designed to replace the long-form questionnaire in the 2010 census.) The CD-ROM, which comes with its own software, allows users to quickly access information in narrative and tabular formats. Users also can view or print charts, maps and reports from prepackaged tabulations, replicating those found in standard decennial reports, and conduct complex data manipulations and customized cross-tabulations. Data are displayed in three formats: community profiles, detailed summary tables (similar to those from the 1990 census), and public-use microdata. The 1998 CD-ROM includes data for two new sites, as well as multi-year data for many 1996 and 1997 sites. The sites added in 1998 were Kershaw and Richland counties in South Carolina and Broward County in Florida. Also included in 1998 were Douglas County, Neb.; Franklin County, Ohio; Fort Bend and Harris counties, Texas; Otero County, N.M.; Rockland County, N.Y.; Multnomah County, Ore.; and Fulton County, Pa. The data may be viewed with Windows 95, 98 or NT operating systems. The CD-ROM includes a user-friendly browser known as Beyond 20/20 licensed by Ivation Datasystems, Inc. The Hands-On Guided Tour includes tutorial "movies" about how to use the software to find the information the user needs. The Quick Start Guide has been updated to direct the user through more complex data manipulations and features. A copy of the American Community Survey questionnaire is provided, along with information about methods, concepts and definitions related to the data. Narrative profiles providing plain-language descriptions of each community complement standard tables. The American Community Survey will provide accurate and timely demographic and economic indicators throughout the decade for federal, state and local governments. Communities can use the information to plan for economic development; to make decisions about locating schools, roads and hospitals; and to monitor change over time. The number of sites was expanded in 1999 to 31. The American Community Survey will be conducted nationwide in 2003. For more information on the survey or to request a free copy of the CD-ROM, please call 1-888-456-7215 or send an e-mail to <acs(a)census.gov>.

25 years, 6 months

[CTPP] Census 2000 Initiative News Alert

by ed christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> President Sends 2001 Budget Request to Congress; Funds Needed to Complete Census and Publish Data Plus: Census Bureau Challenges Localities to Boost Response Rates; Local Offices Open, Hiring Blitz Begins; State Legislatures Continue Debate Over Use of Corrected Numbers President Clinton today sent to Congress his budget proposal for fiscal year 2001 (FY01), which begins on October 1, 2000. The request includes $421 million to complete the 2000 decennial census and begin tabulating and publishing the data collected during the count. That amount is a decrease of $4.055 billion from the current year (fiscal year 2000) allocation of $4.476 billion. According to the Administration's summary explanation of its budget, the requested funding will cover completion of the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (ACE) survey, which is designed to measure undercounts and overcounts in the initial set of numbers. The Census Bureau also must finish shutting down local census offices and data processing centers. By law, the Bureau must tabulate and report the total population of each state to the President by December 31, 2000, for purposes of congressional apportionment (i.e. allocating the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the 50 states). By April 1, 2001, it must transmit the detailed, block-level counts to the states for use in the redistricting process. The President also requested $25 million to continue developing the American Community Survey (ACS). (The budget documents refer to the program as "continuous measurement.") The ACS would collect demographic and socio-economic data from a rolling sample of households throughout the decade, possibly eliminating the need for the traditional census long form in 2010. This year, Congress allocated $20 million for the ACS, which the Census Bureau is testing in 31 sites around the country. Funding for the decennial census and the ACS is part of the Periodic Censuses and Programs ("Periodics") account, one of two main 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 FY01 request for the Periodics account, including Census 2000 activities, is $542 million. The second main funding category for the Bureau is Salaries and Expenses (S & E), which covers ongoing surveys (such as the Current Population Survey) to collect important demographic, economic, and social data. The President proposed $174 million for the S & E account, about $34 million more than the current year's allocation. Congressional hearing scheduled: The House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Census will hold an oversight hearing on February 8, to review the status of preparations for Census 2000. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt will testify. The hearing begins at 2:00 p.m. in room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building. Census operations update: Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt helped kick-off Census 2000 by visiting the first household to be counted in the Alaskan Native Village of Unalakleet on January 20. The Bureau enumerates remote areas in Alaska two months before the majority of households receive their census forms because the residents of many villages disperse to hunt and fish when the spring thaw arrives. Moving final preparations into high gear, Dr. Prewitt launched a nationwide campaign to recruit temporary workers. The Bureau hopes to build a pool of 3 million qualified applicants, from which it will hire about 500,000 people to fill 860,000 positions over the course of census operations. (Some workers will be asked to perform more than one job.) The goal, the director said at a January 6th press conference, "is to have a pool of local people who are familiar with their communities and committed to a successful count in their own neighborhoods." Dr. Prewitt also announced that the Bureau had opened all 520 local census offices, with help from the General Services Administration. Individuals interested in applying for a census job may call a toll-free number, 1-888-325-7733. Pay rates range from $8.25 to $18.50 per hour, depending on the type of work and the location. Commerce Secretary William Daley joined Dr. Prewitt at a January 11th press event to launch "How America Knows What America Needs," a two-part campaign to boost grassroots participation in the census. Dr. Prewitt called upon people "to transform what in its nature is a civic event into what could and should be the nation's first major civic ceremony of the new century." The first component challenges communities to improve their mail-back rate by at least five percent over 1990. Called "'90 Plus Five," the program's goal is a 70 percent nationwide mail response rate. Only 65 percent of all households returned their census forms in 1990; the Bureau's Census 2000 plan assumes a 61 percent mail-back rate. Beginning on March 27, the Census Bureau will post mail response rates for every jurisdiction in the country on its web site. The response rates will be updated daily, through April 11. The highest elected official in each jurisdiction may sign up to participate in "'90 Plus Five" via the Internet at www.hakwan.com <http://www.hakwan.com> or by calling toll-free, 1-877-642-5926. The campaign's second part, "Because You Count," will encourage households that do not mail back a form to cooperate with enumerators during the "nonresponse follow-up" operation. This second component also targets households in rural areas where census workers deliver questionnaires in person and verify the address and location on a map. The operation is called "update/leave enumeration." State activities update: Debate over the use of census numbers corrected on the basis of a quality-check survey (called the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation, or ACE, survey) continued in state houses, as legislatures reconvened last month. On January 21, the Utah House of Representatives passed House Bill 201, prohibiting the use of "statistically adjusted population data" for drawing congressional, state legislative, and state school board district boundaries. The measure is now pending before the Senate Rules Committee. In Virginia, a bill (HB 1486) pending before the House Privileges and Elections Committee would require the use of unadjusted census figures for congressional, state, and local redistricting. The committee may consider the proposal as early as this week. Census Monitoring Board vacancy filled: President Clinton appointed California's Lieutenant Governor, Cruz M. Bustamante, to fill a vacancy on the eight-member Census Monitoring Board. Prior to his 1998 election as lieutenant governor, Mr. Bustamante was Speaker of the California State Assembly and the first Latino elected to statewide office there in more than 120 years. He spearheaded the successful effort to establish the California Complete Count Committee, to help promote census participation in the nation's most populous state. The legislature approved an unprecedented $25 million to fund the committee's activities. Mr. Bustamante assumed a spot on the Board left vacant when former co-chair Tony Coelho resigned last spring to head Vice President Gore's presidential campaign. The panel was created in late 1997 to observe and monitor all aspects of Census 2000. The President appoints four members of the Board; Congressional Republican leaders appoint the other four members. Press briefing on census 'long form': The Census 2000 Initiative sponsored a press briefing in Washington, DC on February 2, to highlight the importance of information collected in the census. Jacqueline Byers (National Association of Counties), David Crowe (National Association of Home Builders and the Housing Statistics Users Group), and Deborah Weinstein (Children's Defense Fund) explained how local governments and businesses, the housing and mortgage banking industries, and educators and children's advocates use census data to assess community needs, target fiscal resources, and plan for future growth. Seventeen percent of households (one in six) will receive the Census 2000 long form. According to the Census Bureau, the long form will take 40 minutes, on average, to complete. It includes 52 questions covering topics such as educational level, income, ancestry, housing conditions, commuting patterns, disability, veteran's status, and employment. For more information on the long form, see the Fact Sheet on our web site at www.census2000.org/facts/long.html <http://www.census2000.org/facts/long.html>. Stakeholder activities: On January 13, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC) unveiled an instructional video highlighting the importance of census participation for Asian Pacific Americans. Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and Robert J. Shapiro, Commerce Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, joined NAPALC Executive Director Karen Narasaki at a Washington, DC press conference to discuss census education and promotion activities targeting Asian Pacific American communities. The in-language video, produced in eleven different Asian and Pacific Islander languages and dialects, was produced with a grant from AT&T. 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 feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.

25 years, 6 months

[CTPP] Documents Announcing the Workplace Update Program

by Phillip.A.Salopek＠ccmail.census.gov

This message is intended for metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and State Departments of Transportation (DOTs). Other subscribers to this listserve may ignore it. The documents announcing the Workplace Update program, and soliciting interest in participating in it, were mailed to 350 MPOs and the 50 State DOTs last week. There are three documents: an introductory letter, a short program description, and a questionnaire or order form. On the chance that some of the mail may not reach the correct people in a timely fashion, PDF versions of the documents have been copied to the TRB Subcommittee on Census Data for Transportation Planning website at http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/. Direct links to the documents are: introductory letter: http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/workup/introletter.pdf program description: http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/workup/program.pdf questionnaire: http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/workup/orderform.pdf

25 years, 6 months

[CTPP] Census 2000 Work-UP Program letter

by Chuck Purvis

To: CTPP-News Metropolitan Plannning Organizations should receive in the mail a 1/21/00 letter from Phil Salopek of the Census Bureau inviting participation in the Work-Up program. Work-Up will give MPOs an opportunity to review, update and correct the list of employers the Census Bureau will use in geocoding Census 2000 workplaces. They will be using the infoUSA employer file, and ArcView 3.1 (or 3.2?) as the basis for this program. Requests for participation are needed before the end of February. Census Bureau intends to distribute the Work-Up software this month, and they need corrected files returned to the Bureau of 4/30/00. For more information on Work-up, contact Clara Reschovsky, Gloria Swieczkowski or Phil Salopek at 301-457-2454. Chuck Purvis, MTC

25 years, 6 months

[CTPP] TRB Annual Meeting

by ed christopher

Here is the link to our agenda for the TRB Annual Meeting. Our meeting is Monday morning at 9:00 AM, January 10th in the Hilton Hotel. If you are going to TRB try to stop by. http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/notes/0199agenda.html We will also be hosting a session on Wednesday, January 12, at 10:15 in the Hilton Hotel. Our session will focus onthe Census Transportaton Planning Package 2000. It is Session 387 and can be found in the larger TRB program. Plan on stopping by. http://www4.nationalacademies.org/trb/annual.nsf Finally, the CTPP 2000 will have a booth at the Marriot Hotel featuring, above other things "our now famous postit notes". plan on stopping by. For now have a Happy Y2K. See you at TRB

25 years, 7 months

[CTPP] news newsletter

by ed christopher

for your christmas viewing the latest version of the "ctpp status report" is now posted on the trb census subcomittee's web page. the direct link to the newsletter is http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/newsltr/sr1299.html the subcommittee's web page can be found at http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/

25 years, 7 months

[CTPP] news alert

by Ed Christopher

From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> Census 2000 Wrap-up: Funding, GAO Report, State Legislative Activities Funding for Census 2000: The Census Bureau heads into its final months of preparation for Census 2000 with nearly the full amount of funding it requested to carry out the count in 2000. On November 29, President Clinton signed into law an omnibus spending bill covering the Commerce Department (the Census Bureau's parent agency) and a host of other federal departments. The appropriations bill included $4.5 billion for decennial census operations through the end of fiscal year 2000 on September 30, 2000, and designated the entire amount as emergency spending. The measure also mandated an across-the-board cut in federal programs of 0.38 percent but gave agency heads flexibility on how to apply the reduction. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said his agency would absorb the cut by scaling back or eliminating low priority census activities but did not specify which ones. Fiscal year 2000 funds for the Census Bureau are part of the Commerce, Justice, State, and The Judiciary Appropriations bill. The final version of that bill (H.R. 3421) was attached to the District of Columbia spending bill (H.R. 3194). The entire package is now Public Law 106-113. GAO cites need for contingency planning: The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report earlier this month expressing concern about the mail response rate and the Census Bureau's ability to meet its hiring goals. In "2000 Census: Contingency Planning Needed to Address Risks That Pose a Threat to a Successful Census," the nonpartisan legislative branch watchdog agency concluded that with only several months until the start of Census 2000, "significant operational uncertainties continue to surround the Bureau's efforts to increase participation in the census and to collect timely and accurate field data from nonrespondents. These uncertainties raise concerns that the 2000 Census may be less accurate than the 1990 census." GAO said the Census Bureau's estimated mail response rate of 61 percent may be difficult to achieve, since it is based in part on evaluations of the 1998 dress rehearsal in which the Bureau mailed a replacement questionnaire to all households. The Bureau decided not to include a second mailing in its final census plan because it is concerned about duplicate responses and public confusion. GAO also expressed concern about whether the Bureau's "extensive outreach and promotion effort" will "[resolve] the long-standing challenge of motivating public participation in the census," a problem that GAO called "beyond the Bureau's ability to control." The report recommends that the Census Bureau develop contingency plans to address a lower-than-expected mail response rate. It also recommends that Congress take steps to attract more temporary workers by eliminating financial disincentives in the law for recipients of Social Security, veterans healthcare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and federal and military pensions, to take census jobs. The full report (GAO/GGD-00-6) is available on GAO's Web site at www.gao.gov http://www.gao.gov. The GAO study was requested by Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the House Subcommittee on the Census. Both legislators commented on GAO's findings in written statements. Rep. Miller said the Census Bureau's decision not to send a second questionnaire to all households was "troubling" and that he believes the second mailing would save money and "allow [enumerators] to concentrate on the hard to count." He also chastised the Bureau for "short changing" the nonresponse follow-up operation, currently slated for ten weeks, in order "to begin the estimation plan supported by the Administration but rejected by the Supreme Court." The door-to-door visits to unresponsive households are scheduled to run from April 27 to July 7, while the post-census quality check survey of 300,000 households (part of the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation, or ACE, program) will take place from June 19 to August 18. Rep. Maloney said the GAO report "shows that there is a quick, efficient way to protect the 2000 Census from any potential operational problems." She cited a lower than expected mail response rate and an inability to hire and retain a sufficient number of temporary enumerators as the greatest risks to the census plan. The congresswoman said she would introduce legislation when Congress reconvenes in January to create a $100 million contingency fund for Census 2000. In 1990, a low mail response rate and a shortage of temporary workers in some areas forced Congress to appropriate about $100 million in emergency funds to complete the count. State legislative activity update: The controversy over the Census Bureau's plans to use statistical sampling methods to measure and correct an expected undercount in Census 2000 continued to be the focus of debate in state legislatures. In Michigan, the Senate approved several bills to prohibit the use of census numbers compiled with sampling methods for redistricting purposes. However, on December 9, the House passed a substitute measure that designates both corrected and uncorrected census numbers as "acceptable census data" for the purpose of drawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries, provided the courts uphold the validity of the data used. Also in early December, the Pennsylvania State Senate approved a resolution calling on the Census Bureau to transmit to the states only census numbers derived from direct counting methods, instead of data corrected using statistical methods, for redistricting purposes. However, the House adjourned without acting on the measure. On November 18, in a letter to Alaska's Assistant Attorney General, the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) requested additional information in order to determine whether a state law affecting the use of census data for redistricting complies with Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (as amended). Alaska is one of 16 states covered in whole or in part by Section 5, 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 Alaska law requires its redistricting board to use census numbers that are the basis for congressional apportionment; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last January that federal law bars sampling methods in compiling the state population totals used for apportionment, but left open the question of whether statistically corrected data could be used for redistricting and the allocation of federal funds. Alaska submitted the law for USDOJ approval in September. Census 2000 Initiative web site: Over the holiday break, the Census 2000 Initiative will be updating its Web site, to provide census stakeholders with current information on key policy and operational issues affecting the 2000 census. Look for a Special News Alert next month with a summary of up-to-date resources available on our Web site. 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.

25 years, 7 months

[CTPP] TAZ-UP Submission Process completed

by Srinivasan

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).

25 years, 8 months

[CTPP] Census 2000 Initiative News Alert

by Ed Christopher

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.

25 years, 8 months

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