Census News Brief, Census News Roundup
On May 7, the President is expected to release his detailed budget request for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins October 1, 2009 and includes funding for final census preparations such as staffing all Local Census Offices (LCOs), launch of the 2010 census advertising campaign, and implementation of the census through mailed and hand-delivered questionnaires and follow-up visits to unresponsive households.
Look for a Census News Brief outlining the detailed request later this week. Also high on the radar screen for census stakeholders: The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on May 12 (2:30 PM) to consider the nomination of Dr. Robert Groves to be director of the U.S. Census Bureau. (See April 2, 2009 Census News Briefs for more information on the nominee and reaction to the selection.)
In the meantime, here’s a round-up of other recent 2010 census news:
Obama Administration appointments continue: The Obama Administration has appointed William A. Ramos, Washington Office Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, to be the Commerce Department’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Ramos served as NALEO’s alternate representative to the 2010 Census Advisory Committee (CAC). In a congratulatory statement, NALEO noted that Mr. Ramos’ new duties are “particularly critical for the success of Census 2010 outreach efforts, which must involve effective partnerships between the Census Bureau and state and local governments.” The position does not require Senate confirmation.
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has selected National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial to be the new chairman of the Census Bureau’s 2010 Census Advisory Committee. The former two-term New Orleans mayor became head of the Urban League, a civil rights and direct services organization serving African Americans and other ethnic communities, in 2003. Mr. Morial is also a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
The 2010 CAC (previously called the Decennial Census Advisory Committee), one of seven official Census Bureau advisory committees, was established in 1991 and rechartered every two years thereafter. The panel, comprised of organizations representing a broad cross-section of census data users, advises the Commerce Secretary and Census Director on issues such as census design and data products and dissemination. Its spring meeting will take place at Census Bureau headquarters on May 7-8, 2009.
Current 2010 CAC Chairman A. Mark Neuman and Vice Chairman Pastor Lee Adams, Jr. will step down from their posts; both were appointed during the Bush Administration. It has been traditional for a new Administration to appoint its own candidates to the 2010 CAC’s two top posts.
Catholic Bishops urge census participation: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, through its Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, has become an official 2010 census partner and is urging its 25,000 parishes and missions to encourage census participation. Archbishop José Gomez of San Antonio noted that, “some of the populations we serve tend to normally be undercounted;” other Conference officials cited the importance of an accurate count to the fair allocation of resources and political representation. In contrast to a call by some Latino evangelical clergy for undocumented immigrants to boycott the census (see April 29 Census News Brief), Alejandro Aguilera, the Secretariat’s assistant director for Hispanic Affaires, said in a statement, “We urge Hispanics/Latinos to make sure they are counted.”
Legislative update: Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the Census Bureau, has indicated his support for changing the Census director’s term of service to a five-year fixed term. At an April 30 subcommittee hearing on federal technology management, Chairman Carper said that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (of which his panel is a part) is likely to consider legislation giving the Census Director a fixed term, similar to terms for the Internal Revenue Service and Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioners, and National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health directors, among others. He suggested that frequent turnover at the top of federal agencies “feeds the lack of oversight and supervision” of information technology projects.
The Census Bureau’s Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) contract, to provide GPS-equipped handheld computers for census field work and to control the data collection operating system, was revised substantially in 2008 after tests of the handheld devices failed to meet expectations. The five-year Director’s term proposal is included in a bill Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced earlier this year (H.R. 1254), to establish the Census Bureau as an independent federal agency.
The Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, which Sen. Carper chairs, will hold a field hearing in Philadelphia to review efforts to “avoid chronic undercounting” in the 2010 census. The panel noted in a press release that Philadelphia’s 2000 census mail response rate was 56 percent, compared to a national rate of 67 percent. At the hearing, entitled “Making the Census Count in Urban America,” the subcommittee will explore outreach strategies and challenges to achieving an accurate census in hard-to-count communities.
The hearing will be held on May 11, at 1:00 PM in the National Constitution Center, Kirby Auditorium. Witnesses will include Acting Census Director Thomas Mesenbourg; the mayors of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware; Pat Coulter, executive director, Philadelphia Urban League; and representatives of Pennsylvania and Delaware’s state advisory panels on Latino affairs.
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 [dot] com. Please feel free to circulate this document to other interested individuals and organizations and to reprint any or all of the information. Previous Census News Briefs are posted on the Census Project web site, at www.thecensusproject.org.
