Appropriations Update
As covered in September’s monthly update, the Census Bureau is funded in the current Continuing Resolution (CR) until December 20, like most of the rest of the federal government, at its current Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 levels. After the November 5 elections, Congress is scheduled to return to Washington, D.C. on November 12 for a “lame duck” session. Ideally, during this session, Congress will consider and pass all 12 Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills before the current CR expires.
Since the Biden Administration did not request a funding anomaly for the Bureau in the most recent CR, and given the potential for another CR, The Census Project Co-Directors Mary Jo Mitchell and Howard Fienberg sent Census Bureau Director Robert Santos a letter on October 8, 2024 encouraging the agency to request a funding anomaly if another CR is needed after the current FY 2025 CR expires on December 20.
In the letter, the co-directors reiterated “stakeholder concerns that we are nearing a precarious point in the decennial cycle where simple flat funding could jeopardize preparations for the 2030 Census, particularly the upcoming field tests.” They pointed to the experience of the last decade’s run-up to the 2020 Census in which the Bureau, as the result of budget uncertainties, canceled three site tests to evaluate updated counting methods in rural communities and on American Indian reservations. Unfortunately, the letter reminded Director Santos, “American Indians living on reservations suffered the highest net undercount of any race group in the 2020 Census, and rural households were missed at a higher rate than nonrural households.”
The letter urged the Census Bureau to be vocal about the potentially damaging impacts of flat funding if Congress and the Administration are compelled to pass more CRs to keep the Federal government running beyond the first quarter of this fiscal year.
For more, see The Census Project’s blog.
Stakeholders and Members of Congress weigh in on funding
Stakeholders who support a high-quality decennial census wrote to the Chairs and Ranking members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees on October 21, 2024, calling for no less than the $1.57 billion funding level recommended by the Senate Appropriations Committee for the Census Bureau in the final FY 2025 funding bill. In addition, the letter urges policymakers to reject provisions that would undermine response to census surveys like Section 621 of the House Appropriations Committee’s funding legislation.
Among the more than 90 organizations that co-signed the letter were the American Statistical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Associated General Contractors of America, Insights Association, ICSC, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, League of Women Voters, National Association of REALTORS®, National League of Cities, and the Population Association of America.
The 90+ groups reminded congressional leaders that funding cuts leading up to the 2020 head count led to operational and accuracy challenges. “When Congress failed to meet the Administration’s request for 2020 Census planning in Fiscal Years 2012-2017, the Census Bureau had to cancel every planned test in a rural area and on American Indian reservations, including two of three dress rehearsal sites in 2018. After the census, the Bureau’s check of its work showed a net undercount of 5.64 percent on American Indian reservations, and a net undercount of 2.58 percent in areas counted with a modified census packet delivery method called “Update/Leave,” which is used primarily in rural areas,” they wrote.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights led another stakeholder letter on October 3, 2024, urging funding for the Census Bureau “at a minimum” matching “the $1.6 billion mark as articulated in the president’s budget request,” opposing “any attempts to restrict the Census Bureau’s ability to follow up with households and businesses that have not responded to censuses and surveys” as in Section 621, and “opposing the inclusion of Section 559 of the House Appropriations” legislation, which would exclude “undocumented immigrants from apportionment counts.”
Meanwhile, the Democrat leads on the Census Bureau’s authorizing committees – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Gary Peters (D-MI) and House Oversight and Accountability Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) – also wrote to the Senate and House leaders on the Appropriations Committees in support of funding for the Census Bureau in FY 2025. Their October 25 letter urged “support for ensuring the Census Bureau receives the highest possible level of funding in the final Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) appropriations bill—specifically the amount advanced by the Senate Appropriations Committee, $1.577 billion. While we understand the pressures of this fiscal year, we request that you keep in mind the timeliness of adequate Census Bureau funding to help control long-term costs and meet critical national data needs.”
“Given our oversight over the Census Bureau,” Peters and Raskin wrote, “we understand FY25 funding is particularly crucial for 2030 Census preparations and efficiency, as well as necessary economic data and crucial national surveys.”
Policy Update
2030 Census Data Systems Pose Challenge for Commerce Department
A new report from the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Commerce highlighted several concerns at the Census Bureau of interest to stakeholders, covering data quality (including an audit of data quality metrics), failures to complete 2030 Census research and testing, and modernization of IT systems and operations. See this blog from The Census Project, which also details the Census Bureau’s response
2030 Census Advisory Committee Meets
On October 17 and 18, the 2030 Census Advisory Committee met at the Census Bureau headquarters. The Committee received presentations on a variety of topics including the Bureau’s efforts to address the undercount of young children, preparations for 2030 Census field operations, andthe Small-Scale Response Testing (SmaRT) program. The speakers’ presentations and a recording of the meetings are posted on the 2030 Census Advisory Committee website. The Committee’s recommendations will also be posted on the website once they are formally transmitted to the Census Bureau.
Disability Advocates and the Census Bureau
Following the withdrawal of a proposed change to how the American Community Survey (ACS) asks about disability status, the Census Bureau met with disability community advocates September 30 on a wide range of data issues of interest to the community.
According to the Coalition for Human Needs, Census Bureau Director Rob Santos “made it clear that the Bureau does not plan to propose any changes to the disability questions for at least 2 years… He also noted that the Bureau has neither decided to move ahead with nor reject last year’s proposal, but any decision will be made after discussions with the disability community. He did not identify any planned next steps. The discussion, however, ranged far beyond discussion of last year’s proposal to explore why even existing questions and federal surveys omit many kinds of disabilities, how data is even more inaccurate for children than adults, and how the Bureau’s data collection process makes it difficult or impossible to include people with particular kinds of disabilities.”
On October 28, Director Santos reflected on the convening in a related blog.
ACS Methods Panel Tests
The Census Bureau shared a Federal Register Notice (FRN) on October 23 about its proposed revisions to the American Community Survey (ACS) Methods Panel Tests. Stakeholders have a 60-day period (until December 23) in which to offer public comment.
“An ongoing data collection effort with an annual sample of this magnitude requires that the Census Bureau continue research, tests, and evaluations aimed at improving data quality, reducing data collection costs, and improving the ACS questionnaire content and related data collection materials. The ACS Methods Panel is a research program at the Census Bureau designed to address and respond to survey issues and needs of the ACS. As part of the Decennial Census Program, the ACS also provides an opportunity to research and test elements of survey data collection that relate to the decennial census. As such, the ACS Methods Panel can serve as a testbed for the decennial census. From 2025 to 2028, the ACS Methods Panel may test ACS and decennial census methods for reducing survey cost, addressing respondent burden, and improving survey response, data quality, and survey efficiencies for housing units and group quarters. The ACS Methods Panel may also address other emerging needs of the program.”
“At this time, proposals are in place for several tests related to self-response. Tests may also be conducted for nonresponse follow-up data collection and other ACS operations. Because the ACS Methods Panel is designed to address emerging issues, we may propose additional testing as needed. Any testing would focus on methods for reducing data collection costs, improving data quality, improving the respondent experience, revising content, or testing new questions for the Decennial Census Program. The proposed tests are outlined” in the FRN.
OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 on Race and Ethnicity Data Standards
Dr. Karin Orvis, Chief Statistician of the United States, shared a blog post explaining the finalization of revisions to the OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 on Race and Ethnicity Data Standards, what happens now, and how the public can continue to be involved.
Talking points for “a more inclusive census”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights recently shared “A Multiracial Democracy Messaging Guide.” The kit “aims to provide messaging that promotes an inclusive understanding of the census as an essential part of our democracy that is separate from voting, and to cut through fear-mongering around the census and federal elections — two pillar messages, both core to our democracy. The recommendations should be tailored to suit the specific context and objectives of your campaign.”
How the 2020 Census shapes voting in Georgia
The Leadership Conference also shared a blog post about the decennial census and redistricting, noting that the census’ impact goes far beyond a simple headcount. The post explores how the 2020 Census continues to impact the material reality of voting in the state of Georgia.
Return Rates and Self-Response Rates
At a Leadership Conference Census Task Force meeting on October 15, Steve Romalewski from the Center for Urban Research at CUNY shared a presentation on the significance of return rates and self-response rates for the census, noting their correlation with data reliability. Bureau data show persistent low return rates in certain hard-to-count areas despite 2010-2020 differences and inconsistent return rates for certain groups.
Census Bureau News
The U.S. Census Bureau held a series of events to recognize the manufacturing sector’s importance and vast contribution to the nation’s economy.
Director Rob Santos shared a blog on “Convening on Disability Measurement: A Powerful Next Step in an Ongoing Discussion.”
The Bureau’s Global Reach blog featured a post on “Census Bureau “Verify” Messages in the Automated Export System: Verify.”
Census Bureau Data Releases
The U.S. Census Bureau released new Business Formation Statistics (BFS) for September 2024. The BFS provide timely and high frequency information on new business applications and formations in the United States. The BFS are a standard data product of the Census Bureau, developed in research collaboration with economists affiliated with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Maryland, and the University of Notre Dame.
The U.S. Census Bureau released new data from Phase 4.2 of the experimental Household Pulse Survey (HPS). The HPS is an effort by the Census Bureau and other federal statistical agencies to measure how emergent issues are impacting U.S. households from a social and economic perspective.
The U.S. Census Bureau released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a survey that measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis, on October 10.
The U.S. Census Bureau released new state-level statistics on geographic mobility and place of birth in 2023. Geographic mobility refers to the movement of people within and across geographic boundaries.
The U.S. Census Bureau released an early look at data from the 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. The data provide initial insight into spending per public school pupil (pre-K through 12th grade), as well as revenue and other school system spending in 41 states. Due to the early release, only a subset of geographic areas is included.
The U.S. Census Bureau released the 2022 Census of Governments Finance Component which provides detailed data on revenues, expenditures and debt by level of government including state, local, and state and local figures combined. Local government data include counties, cities, township governments, special districts and public school systems.
News You Can Use
Below are several articles posted on The Census Project home page in October 2024. For a complete listing, go to: https://thecensusproject.org/in-the-media/.
Do people want to live in cities anymore
The Hill
October 28, 2024
California has highest share of new residents from foreign countries
AXIOS San Francisco
October 28, 2024
Tribes, state argue redistricting case to federal appeals court
North Dakota Monitor
October 22, 2024
Census Preview: California Could Lose Four Congressional Districts
Ellis Insight
October 18, 2024
Where Are People Working Remotely?
The New York Times
October 17, 2024
10 Major Housing Stories from the Latest ACS Data
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
October 15, 2024
OMB regulation sets standards for ‘trustworthy’ government statistics
Federal News Network
October 11, 2024
What the census can tell us about swing states
Washington Examiner
October 9, 2024
